Still Waters 3 Book 1: Drift
by RedPBass
Summary: Oh? What's this? Class 3A has graduated high school? The ultimatum delivered by Fate at the end of Still Waters 2 is approaching, but life goes on as usual in Mahora as everyone prepares; if one can call that sort of life 'usual'. See you in Book 2!
1. Chapter 00: Graduation

**Still Waters 3, Chapter 00, Graduation**

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_March 27th, 2007_

_St. Ursula High School, Mahora_

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It was a somewhat chilly day in late March when the doors of the gym were pushed open from inside, releasing a flood of new high school graduates.

Asuna blinked in the light as she stepped outside and the enormity of what had just happened struck her as she looked around at her surroundings. She had graduated. She was no longer a student. _She was no longer a student...!_

"So, are you gonna stand there all day, or what?" one of the others asked, smirking.

Asuna grinned and glanced back. "Nope!"

The initial trickle of became a flood, and soon the wide, empty space in front of the gym became full of young women. There was a general sense of milling around as the ex-students tried to figure out What Comes Next, but a small group was forming off to one side.

Asuna stood beside a tree off to the right, watching the other students pass by. After a moment, Ayaka moved over and joined her wordlessly. The two nodded at each other, and were soon joined by Misa as well. Chizuru and Natsumi showed up a moment later, Natsumi looking around expectantly, and Satsuki arrived immediately after with a basket of meat buns to pass out.

"Oh hey, can I have one?" Madoka asked as she arrived, soon followed by Mana. Satsuki nodded and handed a meat bun over.

The group watched the other students pass by solemnly as they ate, and were soon joined by the Narutaki twins and Kaede, among others.

"Yo," Misora said as she jogged up. "What's everybody doing?"

"Waiting," Mana said. "Has anyone seen Ku Fei?"

"I think I saw her heading for the bathroom inside the gym," Fuuka said. Mana nodded and went off in search of the other girl.

"Hey, is that Makie? That's Makie, right? Why is she crying?" Misora asked, confused, as she pointed out the pink-haired girl on the other side of the clearing. Makie was standing there with an unfamiliar boy and a woman who was probably her mother, judging from her unusual hair color. Everyone turned to look, just in time to see Max-sensei walk up and say something to her. Makie abruptly latched on to him and began crying in earnest. The awkward teacher's confused response lent the situation a strange levity it wouldn't normally have had.

"Eh...she'll be all right. She always liked Max-sensei," Asuna said, brushing it off.

They stood in silence for a moment, watching in quiet amusement as Makie's mother looked on in shock at her daughter hanging on to the big American P.E. teacher.

"Hey! What's everybody so gloomy for?" Yuuna said loudly as she strolled up alongside Akira.

"Gloomy?" Misora asked, grinning as she saw an opportunity for mischief. "Just watching Makie try to stake a claim on Max-sensei, is all," she said, surreptitiously watching Akira's suddenly shocked expression with glee. Akira had the best expressions~!

"B-but what-wait, no, she can't, she isn't-she wouldn't-I don't think she would do something like tha-" Akira babbled, freezing mid word as her eyes locked on the girl in question.

"Hey~!" Sakurako said, walking up to the group energetically with an arm slung around an extremely reticent Chisame's neck. "What's going on?" she asked as Akira abruptly left the group, heading through the crowd toward Makie and Max.

"Uh hey, wait a minute Akira...!" Yuuna said as she plunged in after her.

"Just waiting to see the catfight," Misa said cheerfully. "Heya Chisame, how ya doin?" she said, slinging an arm around said girl's neck from her other side.

"Swell," Chisame replied, deadpan.

"Hey, Ako! What are you doing hiding over there? Come on, let's all give Chisame a group hug!" Misa said. Ako shook her head and backed away as Sakurako let go of Chisame and snagged her arm, dragging her over.

"I swear, if you don't stop-gak!" Chisame said, interrupted as Misa laid a big, sloppy kiss on her cheek while Madoka stared, slack jawed in mingled fascination and horror.

"Has anyone seen Kotarou-kun?" Natsumi asked, looking around.

"What the hell was _that_?" Chisame screeched while Sakurako and Misa laughed wildly and dragged Ako closer, trapping her against Chisame in a group hug.

"Hey! Get off of me! _Hey_!"

Asuna eyed the identical bottles Misa and Sakurako held, and sighed. Who had decided it was a good idea to give the two of _them_ sake? Anyway, where was Negi...?

Kazumi showed up a moment later and began snapping pictures of the two drunkards.

"So, who's still missing?" Misora asked, looking around at the growing crowd.

"Er...Eva-chan, Chachamaru, but they aren't supposed to be here anyway...Nodoka and the rest are probably waiting for Negi to finish whatever he's doing in there," Asuna said, hooking her thumb toward the gym.

"Yeah..." Misora said absently as she looked around. "What about Hakase?"

"She has an appointment at the university," Ayaka said.

"Huh, who's left? I feel like I'm missing somebody..." Misora asked herself.

Sayo, who was floating around behind Kazumi, grinned hugely. Finally, some recognition...!

"Oh yeah! Zazie!"

Sayo fled in tears.

"Here," Zazie said from directly behind Misora.

"Gyaahh!"

Misora pouted while the others laughed until someone said "Here comes Negi-sensei!" and all eyes turned toward the young teacher as a hush fell over the plaza.

He had grown over the past few years. His childish features had changed into something quite different, and he looked much more mature than his fourteen years would suggest; a product of extensive training in Eva's resort. Every girl that spotted him there found her throat going dry at the sight of him, and most shot jealous glances at the small group of girls walking with him and making small talk.

"Wow, Nodoka's really working it, isn't she?" Misa asked after a moment.

Asuna nodded. Sure enough, Nodoka was right there beside him, blushing faintly as she looked up at him (when had he gotten that tall?), with Haruna beside her urging her on and Yue following along a little behind. Konoka was on his other side, smiling cheerily at some joke while wrapped around a blushing Setsuna's arm.

His gaze turned from Nodoka and met hers across the intervening space, and he smiled. Asuna grinned toothily and began making her way through the crowd. The others followed, and even Akira, Yuuna, and Max-sensei, with Makie still clinging to him, started to make their way over.

Asuna and Negi walked up and stopped, facing each other across perhaps five feet of concrete.

"Heya Negi," Asuna said.

"Hello, Asuna-san," Negi said, beaming at her. Nodoka looked back and forth between the two of them, hesitated a moment, and stepped back to give them some space.

"I haven't seen you in weeks," Asuna said accusingly, that toothy grin still on her face.

"Ah...sorry about that, Asuna-san," Negi replied, rubbing the back of his head nervously.

"...what are you, ten? Stop that, you look like an idiot," she said as she stepped forward and hugged him. Nodoka let out a sudden gasp and Negi went tense for a moment, then abruptly relaxed and hugged her back.

"...thank you, Asuna-san," Negi said into the side of her neck.

"For what?"

"Being there for me, helping me all the time...just...thank you, Asuna-san."

Asuna turned her head and looked him in the eye, incredulous.

"A...Asuna-san?"

"Puuhhh...Bwahahaha!" She reached up and pulled the sides of his face. "Hahaha! Look at you, acting all mature! Yeah right!" She let go and stood back a step, her hands on her hips as she looked him over. Negi, for his part, moved back a step or two himself, not knowing what to make of Asuna's sudden display of...something he couldn't quite find a name for.

"...are you okay, Asuna-san?"

Apparently satisfied, Asuna closed her eyes and nodded. "It's decided, then."

"What's decided?" Negi asked, keenly aware of the crowd of students that had surrounded them.

"Looks like you can take care of yourself now, huh?" Asuna asked cheerfully.

"Asuna-san?"

"It would be pretty bad if you couldn't by _now_, you know," she continued, nodding to herself again as she ignored his questioning tone.

"...Asuna-san?" Negi asked again, suddenly worried.

"Well, I guess I'll be seeing you around. Come on Konoka, Setsuna! Let's go!" Asuna said with false cheer as she darted over and took the two girls' hands and began dragging them away.

"Asuna...?" Nodoka asked.

Asuna paused in her escape, but didn't turn around. "Hey, Nodoka...take care of him, okay? He's stupid and simple and acts like a little kid even though he looks like _that_," she said.

"Asuna-san?" Negi asked yet again.

"Is it a confession?" Haruna asked dramatically, grinning as she waited for Asuna's inevitable reaction.

"What? No!" Asuna said, whirling around to face the crowd, unwittingly exposing her blushing face and the tears building at the corners of her eyes. She saw Negi's eyes widen and abruptly turned away. "It's nothing like that! Now come on, we have to go~!" she said to Konoka and Setsuna, her voice hitching even as her tone became light and playful again.

"Looks like it's time to go," Konoka said. "Take care, Negi-kun!"

"Y-yes, please be careful, Negi-sensei," Setsuna said.

"A-Asuna-san...!" Negi said, starting forward. Someone grabbed his hand, and he turned around to see Nodoka looking at him worriedly. He looked back at Asuna, who was dragging Setsuna and Konoka with her, then back at Nodoka. "I have to go..."

"She told me to take care of you," Nodoka said apologetically.

"N...Nodoka-san..." Negi said as the other students closed around the two. He looked back toward where he had last seen Asuna, but the girl was lost from sight among the other graduates.

Ayaka stood in the back of the crowd for a long moment, watching Asuna as she dragged the other two away. 'What is going on here...?' she thought as she frowned. Then Misa grabbed her by the hand and dragged her over to Negi, and her mind turned to other concerns.

* * *

"Asuna? Are you sure that was the right way to do it?" Konoka asked pleasantly as they sat down to wait for their train some time later.

"Of course!" Asuna said, her tone of voice carefully crafted. She didn't have to ask what Konoka was referring to.

"I will miss him," Setsuna said after a moment.

"I will too, but I haven't been home to see daddy or the others in a long time," Konoka said, slipping her hand into Setsuna's, who looked at her shyly.

"Yeah, I guess that's true. I don't think you visited your home since we got into high school," Asuna said, grasping at any chance that presented itself for distraction. Stupid Negi...

They fell into a heavy silence as each mulled over their thoughts. Leaving Mahora...it wasn't as easy as it had first seemed. Kyoto was by no means boring, not to those involved in the underworld of magic, demons, and the like, but...

Asuna sniffled.

Konoka looked over at her. "Asuna?"

Asuna's sniffling increased and she wrapped her arms around herself.

Konoka put a comforting arm around her, and Setsuna went around to the other side and did the same thing, albeit much more awkwardly.

"It'll be all right, Asuna. We'll come back when you've been released from your training, okay?" she said.

"Oh Konoka, I miss him already!" Asuna wailed as she leaned over and grabbed Konoka in a big hug and burst into tears. Setsuna just watched, slack jawed. 'So _that_ is what it looks like...' She had been a victim of the same attack countless times before from Konoka, though without the tears.

"There there, it will be okay Asuna...your training will be over before you know it," Konoka said confidently as she held the other girl and patted her back.

"Yes, you are already very skilled," Setsuna said, recovering quickly. "I do not believe you will have to undergo training from the very beginning. You will probably be accepted by one of the masters as an apprentice rather than just another student."

Asuna just continued sniffling.

"Yep, and then we can all go out on missions together!" Konoka said happily.

"Oh? So what is this all about?" Ayaka asked from behind them.

"Gyahh! What are you doing here Iincho?" Asuna said, her voice nearing a screech as she whirled to face the sudden interloper.

Ayaka crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. "I am trying to find out what made one of my..." She paused a moment, searching for the right word. "...what made one of my friends run away crying from her own graduation ceremony."

Konoka smiled up at her. "Asuna is going to join the Shinmeiryu!" Setsuna nodded.

Ayaka just gaped for a moment before turning her accusing gaze on Asuna again. "Is this true?"

Asuna nodded, looking miserable.

Ayaka just blinked for a moment. Asuna was really leaving? It was an oddly disquieting thought. "How long?"

Setsuna and Konoka looked at each other for a moment.

"Most likely a year and a half, perhaps two, but I can't say for sure," Setsuna said carefully.

Ayaka looked down at Asuna, towering over her imperiously. "And you were just going to run away for two years and not let anyone know?"

"It's just easier that way!" Asuna said defensively. "I was going to go over there and then send everybody an email or something. Besides, it's not like you guys can't visit or anything..."

"Oh trust me, I _will_," Ayaka said. Asuna flinched. "Are you doing this for Negi's sake?" The three Kyoto-bound girls froze and looked at each other.

"Er...yeah..." Asuna finally said. Gah! Why was it so embarrassing to say?

"Most of the others are leaving as well," Ayaka said after a moment.

"What? What about college?" Mahora was an escalator school, all the way up to college. Once you graduated high school, getting into college was virtually guaranteed; she had assumed most of the class would continue with their education.

Ayaka shrugged. "Everyone wants to become stronger in order to accompany Negi when he goes to face that brat Fate," she said, crossing her arms again, her face darkening as she recalled that early morning in their third year of middle school, when she had been forced to watch helplessly as Fate beat up her friends and challenged Negi to meet him in the magic world in six years' time. Well, time was almost up...there were only a couple years left in which to prepare. And Ayaka herself certainly hadn't been wasting time...much to her mother's disgust. Now that she had graduated, she would have to go home and face her parents; that would not be easy.

"But why leave? Couldn't they just keep...training..." Asuna said, trailing off as her mind caught up with her mouth. She sighed. 'Self, I'm an idiot. Did you know that?' 'Why yes, yes I did.' _Of course_ they were all leaving; it was the same as her own situation. Everyone had spent the last few years growing stronger first under Negi's tutelage, then moving on to other teachers more suited to their particular skills. But while Mahora was overflowing with mages and fighters, true masters were few and far between in the city, and most weren't taking students. Everyone had learned as much as they could in Mahora, and it was time to branch out.

"Half of them are already gone, or will be shortly," Ayaka said absently as she moved to sit on the bench, forcing the other three girls to scoot over and make room as she sat down, crossing her arms and legs.

"That was quick," Asuna said. Ayaka nodded and sighed irritably.

"Who is staying?" Setsuna asked after a moment's pause.

"Madoka-san, Misa-san, and Sakurako-san of course," she said. "Ako-san too. Kazumi seems to be planning on staying around the city as well; I think she found a master seer to train her. Nodoka-san and Yue-san will be going to the university, but some of the others...did you know Makie's mother has prepared for an arranged marriage for her?"

"_What?_" Asuna asked.

"I hope she isn't taking it too seriously, is she?" Konoka asked. Arranged marriage in this day and age? _Honestly_...! All Makie had to do was hit her mother with a hammer and everything would be solved, obviously.

Ayaka shook her head, more irritably than ever. "She is convinced the boy is a monster, but she loves her mother too much to say it."

They sat in silence as everyone thought about the cheerful girl and the way she had been crying earlier. Everyone had thought it was just Makie being Makie and overreacting to the high school graduation ceremony—Makie should know better, everyone had a much more important connection than just _school—_but now it suddenly made sense.

"Nah, she won't stand for it too long. Makie may be stupid, but she's not _that_ stupid," Asuna said, shaking her head.

Ayaka raised an eyebrow as she looked over at her. "_You_ are calling someone else stupid?" she asked.

Asuna rolled her eyes and lightly punched Ayaka in the arm.

"That's more like it," Ayaka said. The four of them sat there in silence for a moment. "So I take it you three will be coming back?"

Asuna just blinked for a moment. What the hell? WHAT. THE. HELL. "Of course we're gonna come back! What, did you think we could just abandon him?"

Ayaka smiled and nodded to herself. "Very well. It's a promise. I believe that's your train," she said, gesturing toward a train that had just slowed to a stop. "Take care," she said as she stood up.

Asuna, Konoka, and Setsuna stood up as well. Asuna paused a moment, looking back at the class rep.

"Don't go molesting any little boys, Iincho," she said, drawing a few concerned looks from the other travelers.

"Don't go kidnapping any old men, violent monkey," Ayaka said, waving lightly as she walked away, not looking back.

"I'm not a monkey!" Asuna shouted after her.

"Come on Asuna, it's time to go," Konoka said, taking her arm.

"Yeah...yeah," Asuna said as she tried to get her thoughts under control. "Okay, off to Kyoto~!" she said with a cheer she did not feel. '...I hope he'll be all right...'

* * *

_**Author's Notes:** Okay, so here's the first chapter of Still Waters 3. Note the date at the top of the chapter; the dates will become important as the story progresses, so don't forget to check them as you read. Anyway, as for this chapter, it's more of a prologue sort of thing really, but...eh... Anyway, it's class 3-A's high school graduation, and they are now unleashed upon the world. What will happen? Where will they go? What will they do? Some of this has been answered in some of my shorter stories, but as for the rest... Well, you'll just have to catch the next chapter to find out, won't you? Enjoy.  
_


	2. Chapter 0: Time

**Still Waters 3, Chapter 0, Time**

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**

_They say some ancient cultures believed that a life, the life of every man, woman, and child, was simply a thread in some vast weaving beyond mortal understanding. They say that each of these threads has a unique purpose, a unique fate, and serves in some small way to continue the weaving in its own way. But…some of these threads are more important than others. Some of these threads are so incredibly important that the loss of a single one could undo everything. Simple threads, such as that belonging to a child of the yakuza, rushing to show her older brother her new miniature cat, or that belonging to a man who calls fire without words, and the girl who does the same with water. The new Queen of Light, still waiting to be crowned; her followers, a dog boy and a dark girl, and a poor little rich girl. Another dark girl on the edge of achieving magnificent power, if only she can tame her rebellious mind; her friends the witch, the white, and the magic eater. A girl tortured by demonic nightmares, huddling with her sister in the hold of a cargo ship just setting out across the Pacific on its way to Japan. A child standing in the ruins of an ancient city, struggling to understand the teachings of a madman to keep herself from going insane… These are just a few of the myriad threads that must not be broken._

_But this is all of minor importance to those on the borders of the weaving, those holding the tangle together. On one side, we have a frustrated girl who has seen far, far too much, facing the very image of nothingness on the other, with all the threads trapped between._

_It is a terrifying thing, how fragile the world may be._

* * *

_Late August, 2003_

* * *

"Come in."

The heavy wooden door opened and a white haired boy entered the room, his face carefully held in a neutral expression as he approached the big, plainly decorated desk and the man who sat in the chair behind it. "I have returned, master."

The man gestured to one of the chairs across from him and Fate sat down, a bit stiffly. While he had worked for many people over the years, this man was his only true boss. And, as always, his complete and utter lack of strong emotion bothered Fate in some deep way he couldn't describe. It was as if he was facing a statue that had somehow gained some freakish, false semblance of life; the sort of poor copy a child might create if she were to become bored, but far, far more alien than the false sort of life created by the doll masters. Oh, his master wasn't an unpleasant man, he supposed, only…strange. It was hard to describe what he looked like, and often even the words he had spoken. One tended to come away from a meeting with him with distressingly little impression of the event; something regular people inexplicably failed to notice. And his office, while not exactly spartan in appearance, was also far from ostentatious. It looked like a million other offices on a million other worlds, the sort of office that was just as hard to describe as the man currently seated behind the desk. The mere average of all offices, anywhere. There were a few portraits of strangers on the walls, a few bookcases full of unremarkable texts on philosophy, law, oratory theory and similar subjects, a potted plant in the corner…and on the desk sat one of those odd little devices that Fate always thought reminded him of a tiny gallows, only with small silver spheres in place of the bodies. It currently sat at rest. He had an urge to set it in motion, but resisted the impulse.

The nondescript man carefully placed the papers he had been reading into a folder and closed it, then pushed it to the side until it sat evenly with the edge of the desk. He joined his hands on the desktop in front of him and smiled lifelessly at Fate. "So, how was it?"

"My mission was a failure," Fate reported. "Operative Gaze was killed, and I was unable to kill the Springfield boy." He kept his face carefully expressionless. There was no need to tell the man on the other side of the desk that he had had Negi's life in his hands and decided to let him go. If Fate admitted that, his boss might begin to wonder what else had been left unsaid.

"A shame about Gaze, he was a good man," the man said. Fate felt something inside him bristle at that and had to work hard to keep the neutral expression on his face. Gaze had died in one last pointless struggle to repay the Springfield family for what Nagi Springfield had done during the war. But despite that he had been a good man, and a good…friend, Fate supposed. He deserved more than a thoughtless 'He was a good man' from his boss.

"Well, no point in crying over spilt milk," the man said. "What is done is done. Were you able to retrieve the items I requested?" he asked, an expression of polite expectancy pasted on his face like a mask.

"I was able to locate most of the items, but due to several factors, I was unable to actually acquire any of them. I am sorry, master." He carefully watched the man's face for any sign of frustration, annoyance, even minor irritation. Nothing. It was uncanny. Even Fate, as a created being, showed true emotions occasionally.

"Many of them are only of minor importance; it is the items of real power which are my concern. Did you locate any of them?"

Fate nodded. "The sword is currently in the hands of the Shinmeiryu, a powerful group of mercenary swordsmen in Japan. You have heard of them, I'm sure," Fate said. He waited until the man across the desk nodded before continuing. "While a copy of the mirror is currently housed in a shrine in the Mie prefecture of Japan, the true mirror is missing but may be in the possession of the last male heir of the youkai crown, while the amulet has been missing for several hundred years, since the heiress of the youkai crown was imprisoned. It is presumed that it is in her possession, but I had no way to find out short of storming the Shinmeiryu's main house in Kyoto, where it is thought she is currently being held."

"How secure is this compound?"

"Very secure. Estimates of their forces range from thirty fully trained samurai and exterminators on hand to five hundred. We have no way of keeping track of how many they have in the field in either world, but you can rest assured they have agents everywhere."

"Fate. This is interesting, but _how good are they_? What sort of a challenge would they present if assassins were sent to retrieve the sword and amulet?"

Fate paused a moment as he tried to decide what to tell the man. There was no doubt his boss had other agents; he was building himself up to be quite an important man, after all. It was just a matter of figuring out how much he could get away with…

"…I believe it would be a disaster, master. In addition to their own strength, they have alliances with many extremely powerful magical organizations all over the old world, not to mention here. Not to mention the fact that if the amulet is with the heiress to the youkai crown, it will not be easy to retrieve." A full blooded youkai, especially a member of what amounted to the most powerful youkai royal family, was not a being to take lightly. "I advise against that course of action."

The man sat back in his chair and gave the appearance of deep thought.

Fate looked ahead woodenly as several minutes passed.

The man abruptly sat up straight and opened one of the drawers in his desk. He poked around inside for a moment, then came up with a folder, which he passed to Fate.

Fate took the folder and scanned through the papers inside. "Godel? Surely you don't want me to kill _Kurt Godel_?" he asked, his own mask starting to slip at the absurdity of it all.

The man pasted on an amused smile, copied straight from a doting father. "No, of course not. That would utterly ruin my current plans. No, he is to be protected. There are many out there who would profit by his death; I want you to ensure that he does not die until I have decided it is time, that is all."

Fate just looked at him for a moment. Was this man mad? Killing Kurt Godel would put the senate and, indeed, the political balance of the entire world on a razor's edge, with chaos and war the only result if the slightest misstep was made.

"Is there a problem?"

Fate shook his head. "No, master. I understand. I will set out when my ministra are rested."

"Very well. You may go."

* * *

_March 2nd, 2006_

* * *

Ako eyed the box of used CDs with apprehension. It had been a gift from Misa, after all, and...well...when one received something from Misa...

She reached in and pulled out a CD case at random; it had a smiling black man on the cover. "Drift Away and Other Classics," she read aloud in passable English. She carefully cut away the plastic wrapper and popped the case open. She took out the CD and turned it over, absently checking for scratches the way she did with any used CD. As expected, it was pretty rough. There was nothing she could do about that, so she put it into her CD player, put on her headphones, and pressed play.

As the first song on the disc filled her ears, she began to smile.

* * *

_July 1st, 2006_

* * *

The man jerked back to consciousness with a gasp, hands scrabbling at his belly, where two swords had been an instant before.

There was nothing there.

No blood, no guts, no wounds at all. Not even any clothes; he was naked, and even twenty-odd years of scars were simply _gone_. He looked around frantically, but there was nothing to give him any sense of position, any way to orient himself. He was in an apparently endless space, the distant walls, if walls they were, were hidden in a swirl of tan, pink, and sky blue. And, though he couldn't see any surface under him, he seemed to be standing on _something_. It was a lot less disturbing than he thought it should be.

"…" It took him a moment to realize he wasn't breathing, and therefore couldn't speak. He consciously drew in a breath. "Hello? Anyone heeeaaahhhh…" His words faded out in a pitiful hiss as the last of the air left his lungs. Apparently he hadn't taken a deep enough breath…he tried again. "Anyone here? Hello?" he called out, hoping for an answer but not really expecting one.

"Yes."

Guy Sculler whirled around to see the newcomer, his hand going to his waist for a sword that he hadn't carried in years. He froze in place, then forced himself to relax slightly. He must look a fool…!

The woman in front of him wasn't exactly beautiful or even very pretty, but she was strangely familiar and seemed an angel in his eyes, with light shining all around her and reflecting from her unusual robe-like dress.

She smiled awkwardly, and Guy felt like he was a child again. "Er…look, what's going on here?" he asked.

The woman smiled gently at him. "You really do look like him…," she said as her eyes started to moisten. She wiped them quickly before she spoke again. "Forgive me, I didn't want to cry. It's just that you look so much like my old Tristan…"

Guy, who was thoroughly freaked out by that point, backed away a few steps.

"I'm sorry," the woman said again, then straightened herself out with a visible effort. "Now, I am sure you have many questions. Go on, feel free to ask."

Guy gave her a searching look for a moment before he started. "Okay. I guess I'll go with the most obvious first…am I dead?"

"In a way," the woman replied. I removed you from your body in the instant before death. That was very foolish," she said, shaking her finger at him. "You should have known better than to follow that madman," she said, referring to Oscar Marshall, the man who had invaded Mahora in an effort to kidnap Okochi Akira, the water elemental.

Guy raised an eyebrow as he looked at her. "He is—_was_—my boss."

The woman looked shocked for a moment, then burst into laughter. Guy watched her laugh for a moment before he interrupted.

"What? What are you laughing at?"

She forced herself to calm down and wiped the tears from her eyes and beamed at him. "Since when does the King of Air bow down to the _King of Wood_?" she asked in a ridiculously amused voice, as if he was a fool for not understanding.

Guy couldn't help but feel a little annoyed by this point. The woman was throwing around a lot of vocabulary and laughing at him, and he was tired of it. "Just tell me what's going on here!" he demanded.

"It's simple," she finally said. "When the end of the world comes, the Elemental Kings must gather to help fight it."

Guy sighed. "Fight _what_?" he asked irritably.

She looked at him seriously. "Why…fight The Growing Dark and The Adversary, of course. You…really don't know anything?"

"No."

"Oh my…"

"So, if I'm the so called King of Air and Marshall was the King of Wood, who are you? And how am I still alive?" Guy demanded.

The woman smiled prettily. "I am the Queen of Light."

* * *

_January 25th, 2008, The Mahora Campus, Just After Class_

* * *

Takamichi approached Negi as he stood by one of the big windows in the hall, looking outside with an unfocused stare.

"Hello Negi."

Negi looked up at the other teacher absently for a moment before snapping back to reality. "Oh, hello Takamichi. Sorry, I didn't see you there. Did you need something?"

Takamichi shrugged. "Walk with me."

Negi gave him a curious look, but followed along as the older man led him outside into the cold air and set off along one of the many paved walkways outside. They walked for several long, freezing minutes before Takamichi stopped to light a cigarette. Negi looked at him expectantly, but Takamichi stubbornly refused to say what was on his mind and resumed walking. Negi followed him for perhaps five more minutes before deciding silence was not the necessary approach in this case.

"Is something wrong, Takamichi?"

Takamichi stopped to light another cigarette and ran a hand through his hair. "Negi, we have a problem."

That got Negi's attention. He looked at the other teacher in consternation. "What happened? Did Fate come back? Is someone invading the city again?"

Takamichi shook his head. "No, it's nothing like that."

Negi's frown deepened as he cocked his head to the side, watching the older teacher closely. "...Is somebody sick?"

Takamichi stopped walking and squeezed the bridge of his nose. "No, Negi, no one is sick. We think."

"Then..."

Takamichi, seeing that this was getting him nowhere, decided that he had no choice but to voice the concerns of everyone who knew the boy. He grimaced in distaste. "Negi, you're wearing yourself out."

Negi paused, looking blankly at his old friend. "...what?"

Takamichi stubbed out the remains of his cigarette and lit a fresh one. "You're overworking yourself, wearing yourself out. Listen," he said, raising his hand to silence Negi's immediate denial. "We've all noticed it, though Shizuna was the first to mention it. You miss Asuna and everyone, don't you?"

Negi went quiet and looked off to the side.

Takamichi sighed again and decided to change tack. "Look, do you still like researching ancient civilizations?"

Negi gave him an odd look, but nodded.

Takamichi nodded in return. "Good. One of my colleagues currently in Tibet on a research trip for Tokyo U sent me some interesting pictures. Here, take a look," he said, passing an envelope to Negi.

Negi took the envelope absently and fumbled with it for a moment before taking a stack pictures out and flipping through them. The first few were nothing special; just some pictures of the workers at the site and a few ancient stone walls; he skimmed through the pictures absently for a moment. The clear magic circle carved into one of the stones in the fifth picture caught his eye, however, and he quickly moved on to the rest, suddenly much more interested. The circles scattered around the ruins were clearly related to magic, but were of a type he didn't recognize at all.

"How old is the site?"

Takamichi took a long drag on his cigarette, dropped it, and ground it into the pavement with his shoe. "Noriyasu, the colleague who sent those pictures, says it is easily thousands of years older than anything he's ever seen before."

Negi looked at the pictures in silence for a moment while Takamichi lit up a third cigarette. "He has a spot open on his team; he's looking for an expert in this sort of thing, and I recommended you," Takamichi said, looking off into the distance.

Negi looked from the pictures to Takamichi's face, trying to see what the other man was thinking. "I can't just abandon-"

"It's nothing like that," Takamichi said, irritation finally creeping into his voice. "Think of it as a mental cooldown after a long workout." He paused for a moment, and they stood together in silence. "Besides, he's no ordinary archaeologist either."

Negi went back to the first picture, which showed this 'Noriyasu', standing beside a short dark haired girl and a somewhat geeky Japanese man with glasses. "I've got my classes-"

"We'll find someone to take over for you," Takamichi said.

"But what about the students I'm training?" Negi asked.

"There are others who can handle that," Takamichi said confidently.

Negi paused, worry and indecision clear on his face. "I don't know..."

"It will be good preparation for dealing with a foreign environment," Takamichi said, pulling his hole card. "You will definitely be thankful for the experience when the time comes," he said.

Negi looked at the pictures, the path the two of the were standing on, the nearby trees and bushes, and even the clouds in the sky before finally making his decision. "I guess I'll go."

Takamichi nodded as the tension went out of his shoulders. "The preparations are almost complete, they're just waiting for your okay. You'll need to sign some papers and make a few arrangements before we can send you over," he added.

Negi nodded as he scanned through the pictures again. This...it might not be so bad. Mahora was stifling at the moment; this might be just the thing he needed to get out of the rut he had fallen into.

* * *

_January 13th, 2009, Somewhere In Northeast Russia_

* * *

"It's about time we head back to Mahora," Mana said as she stood up and pocketed her knife.

"Really?" Ku Fei asked, pausing in the act of tying up the man whose back was currently occupied by her knee. The man suddenly jerked to the side, trying to dislodge her, so she gave him a sharp smack on the head to quiet him.

Mana nodded as she scanned the warehouse for any extra members of the smuggler group. It appeared to be clear. "It's been a long time since I was last there."

Ku Fei nodded as she finished her job and stood up. "Let's hook them up now."

Mana brought over the hooks and attached them to the complicated knots, then gave Ku Fei the signal to operate the winches. She watched in boredom as all fourteen smugglers were raised one by one to a height of roughly fifty feet above the concrete floor of the building. "That should do it. We'll give them a few hours before we call the police and get our reward…what do you think?" Mana said. She yawned and stretched. Fourteen smugglers with automatic weapons just wasn't much of a fight, anymore. Not with Ku Fei by her side.

Ku Fei cocked her head to the side as she looked up at the smugglers, some of which were now shouting obscenities in a language she didn't understand. "How about we leave them for a few days?" she asked loudly in English, her voice echoing in the warehouse as she winked at Mana.

Mana grinned unpleasantly as the smugglers abruptly started pleading for mercy in English only slightly more broken than Ku Fei's. "Yeah, that would do nicely. Let's go, Ku."

Ku Fei nodded and followed Mana outside, where they found themselves face to face with a dozen smugglers armed with submachine guns.

Mana smirked and Ku Fei grinned widely, and they attacked.

* * *

_January 31st, 2009, A Warehouse Currently Being Used for Storage of Archaeological Artifacts Somewhere in Tibet_

* * *

Nodoka looked up from the tiny gold amulet she was cleaning, her face still red as she recalled how Negi had saved her from falling a couple weeks back when part of the ruins collapsed... "What did you say? I didn't hear..."

Yue didn't look up as she continued working on a column of figures on a clipboard. "I said I'm not going back to Mahora with you and Negi."

Nodoka carefully put down her tools so as to give Yue her full attention. "Why? I thought you missed Mahora? Weren't we all going to go back togeth-"

"There's too much work left to do here," Yue interrupted, carefully training her eyes on the clipboard so as to avoid her friend's gaze.

Nodoka frowned worriedly. It was true that there was much left to do, but it wasn't anything the real archaeologists couldn't do. "Yue, is something wrong...? Did I do something to make you mad? Or is it something about Negi-sensei?" She didn't ask if it was the time Yue spent trapped in the collapsed section of the ruins.

Yue abruptly pulled the sheet of paper from the clipboard. "I need to give this to the director," she announced as she all but fled the room.

"Yue..."

* * *

_February 5th, 2009, a Hidden Training Village Somewhere in the North of Japan_

* * *

"Hey, Kaede-nee, will you look at this? It's awesome!" Fuuka said as she rushed up to Kaede, who smiled at her. Fumika followed more quietly, as usual.

"You passed your final ninja exam? That was quick," Kaede said as she looked at the paper Fuuka passed her. "Now you can join your younger sister on missions," she said teasingly. Fuuka crossed her arms and pouted while Fumika smiled disarmingly.

"Well…we have some time off, right? I want to go back to Mahora. You know, see how everyone's doing?" Fumika volunteered after a moment.

Kaede rubbed her chin as she thought. "Hmm…" She glanced down at the twins, then raised her eyes about six inches. She still hadn't gotten used to the fact that the two of them had finally hit their growth spurt at the same time. They still weren't as tall as she was, and probably never would be, short of illusion magic. Not that that was a _bad_ thing, mind you. At least they wouldn't have to duck every time they went through a doorway... "Yes, I see what you mean. I want to see how Negi-bozu has progressed," she said.

"Okay then, let's leave tomorrow," Fumika insisted.

* * *

_February 10th, 2009, The Mahora Middle School Campus Athletics Fields_

* * *

A bright light briefly illuminated the windows of a small storage shed near the athletics fields and, if one were to listen carefully, strangely familiar music might be heard. The light quickly disappeared, however, and silence resumed. A minute passed, perhaps two, and then the door of the shed opened slightly and Chisame peeked out, looking both ways. When no one appeared, she opened the door wider and stepped out, her eyes haunted as she hurried up the path, her gaze focused on nothing in particular as she went. She shivered; that last one...

'This is my last chance,' she thought, horrified. This was the final one, the one where she would put everything she had learned to good use, the one where she would prove that all those sacrifices hadn't been in vain.

* * *

_February 12th, 2009, The City of Mahora_

* * *

Negi straightened his tie absentmindedly as he thought about, well, everything. He had only arrived back in Mahora a few days ago from the site in Tibet, and was still trying to adjust to the radically different pace after spending almost a year on the archaeological dig with the others. Nodoka and Yue had been there too and still were now, and he briefly wondered how the two were doing. Probably better than he was at any rate; they didn't have a major school function to attend.

Today was graduation day.

Negi hadn't been in Mahora for a while, but he had taught many of the students that would be graduating today, and didn't want to disappoint them by not showing up. Well…it was now or never, time to see his students graduate and hopefully not cry like he had last year. Or the year before. Or the year before that…

Graduation Day was so depressing.

It meant the loss of an old class, but also the acquisition of a new one, so it wasn't as if it was _all_ bad…or at least, that's what he always told himself.

He opened the door and stepped outside. When this was over and school had resumed, he would have a new class, a new group of students to teach. Who knows…it might be fun.

* * *

_December 21st, 2012, 9:30 a.m. Megalomesembrian Standard Time_

* * *

Negi stood up from his spot at the map table and exited the tent, his generals and advisers following quietly. He paused at the drop off and looked out worriedly over what would soon be a battlefield. It was a wide, flat plain framed by mountains on three sides and the capital city of Megalomesembria on the far end. In addition to being a battlefield they had been forced into by their enemy, it was wide open with nowhere to hide, something Yuuna had repeatedly told him was a Very Bad Thing, as far as general warfare went. And, if the battle went badly for the enemy, they would no doubt flood into the city, changing the flow of battle dramatically and making it that much harder to win, not to mention the fact that the enemy's position so near the city utterly precluded the usage of any sort of heavy magic bombardment or even wide-area spells, reducing combat to old fashioned infantry vs infantry while the inevitable air battle must not be allowed to move over the city, lest they run the risk of another Tristan Incident. The enemy was effectively holding the millions of civilians living in the city as hostages, and the civilians loved them for it. And that wasn't even the worst part!

It seemed everything was stacked against them in this final battle, they were even attacking on the enemy's home turf with an army mostly made up of bits and pieces of forces already conquered by the enemy's own massive and well disciplined army, and it seemed at times as if the whole human population was against them.

"It'll be okay," Chisame said, grinning crookedly at him. He gave her an awkward smile in return.

"Thanks. So...this is it, huh? The final battle."

"Things aren't the same as they were. As long as you follow the plan..." she replied.

Negi nodded quietly as he watched the enemy maneuvering in response to the movements of his own friends and allies already on the field. Somewhere down there was the man he had to defeat. "I wish..." 'I wish they could all have been here to see this,' he thought, cutting himself off before he could voice the thought. This wasn't the time or place to speak of the dead.

"Any second now..." Chisame said, glancing at her wristwatch.

Negi glanced back at her just in time to miss the explosion on the western border.

"The Shields are on the move. Is there any word from Rakan?" someone asked behind them.

"...yes," Kazumi said, holding her hand to her ear. "He says they're outnumbered five to one. He's attacking," she said, smiling in spite of herself at the man's attitude.

Negi nodded in silence and turned to face the battlefield again.

"Flyers!" one of the aides shouted, pointing toward the enemy's base, where hundreds of highly maneuverable one-man flying devices were rising into the air and zipping off to attack his forces.

"And there's the dragon," Chisame said again, the satisfaction clear in her voice as their secret weapon and its rider rose from a hidden place on the sidelines of the battlefield below and flew to meet them, hundred yard blade flashing wildly as the flyers tried to evade.

Everyone fell silent as the enemy flyers fell by the dozen, exploding as they dropped from the sky. The enemy infantry began moving out, and their own moved to respond while a detachment from the Shields moved to flank the enemy from the other side as well.

Negi shuddered. It was all so unreal seeing it from this angle, not unlike a videogame. That was the part that scared him. His thoughts were interrupted as a brilliant blue beam of light shot across the battlefield and blasted an approaching enemy airship out of the sky. The enemy answered with a beam of cold, silvery light that crackled against a massive magical barrier and dissipated. There...that was the location of the enemy he had to beat. Negi checked his things and prepared to join the battle.

"Heh, looks like Moon-girl's having fun already," Yuuna said as she watched the airship crash land on the mountainside east of the city.

"I guess I can't convince you to stay here, can I?" another one of the girls asked.

Negi grinned in spite of the seriousness of the situation. "No, I'm afraid not. It's time to save the world."

They looked at each other, amused grins all around. Eva crossed her arms and snorted. "Thought so. I never thought I'd say this, boy, but you're ready. Come on, Negi," she said, stepping up to stand beside him and ignoring his surprise at her use of his given name. She smirked up at him. "What?"

"Master..." Negi started.

"Tch. I'm not your master anymore. You remember how you wanted to be among the really great ones? Rakan and Nagi and the rest? You've graduated. You're there. Now come one," she said, looking back over the battlefield, her eyes bright with excitement. "Let's show them what happens when you try to destroy _our_ world."

Negi glanced back over the others, somehow not surprised to see them all checking their weapons and equipment. "I guess you're all coming too, aren't you?" he asked his generals and advisers as explosions rocked the battlefield below.

"Of course, what else did you expect?" Yuuna said, grinning wickedly as she pulled out her pactio card. "Let's show 'em what we're made of!"

"Yeah!" the others cheered.

Negi couldn't help but smile. All the pain and loss and confusion had led to this; preparing for battle alongside the best friends he could ever hope for. The friends he had lost...he knew they would be here in spirit, if they could. He looked out over the battlefield again.

"Let's go."

* * *

_**Author's Notes:** And this is Chapter 0, another prologue type of chapter. Sort of. Anyway! Again, as I said at the end of Chapter 00, be sure to check the dates; dates are important. What sort of epic story can you have without dates? Next chapter, the first proper chapter, will be up some time soon, and we can finally see how this part of the story of Still Waters begins._


	3. Ch1 New Beginnings pt 1

_The Growing Dark. Ragnarok. The End Of All Things. It has been known by many names over the years as the world tried to prepare itself to face The Trial, The Final Battle for everything. The final battle that creeps irrevocably closer with each passing second, every swing of the pendulum. It has bided its time for millennia, but now its time is rapidly approaching._

_Thousands of years ago, long before Rome or the Egyptian dynasties, the last pieces of a puzzle older than time fell into place and set the future into inevitable motion. Empires rose and fell, civilizations flourished and died, and the worlds moved on. Conflict changed from scattered battles to organized warfare, and still time marched on. Down the centuries, on toward the destined final meeting in which everything, EVERYTHING, rested securely on a single person's fragile shoulders. A hero, The Hero, the one fated to face The Adversary at the end of all things. Prophecies spoke of a young girl, the girl who will wield the world's power, that most powerful of forces, to face the coming darkness._

* * *

**Still Waters 3, Chapter 1, New Beginnings Part 1**

* * *

_Times have changed and times are strange, here I come but I ain't the same._

* * *

_Monday, April 6th, 2009, Morning_

_Mahora  
_

* * *

Six years after the defeat of Gaze and Fate's ultimatum, an attractive young man strolled through the halls of Mahora, his footsteps echoing in the mostly empty hallway.

It was the first day of a new school year, and the few students who had not yet found their classrooms stopped and stared as he passed by. Cries of "Wow!" and "He's so hot!" would allow one to track his progress through the halls, if one so wished.

He finally came to a stop in front of a particularly familiar classroom and took one last look at the new class roster. 'Looks like an interesting class again this year,' he thought to himself as he scanned over the names and pictures. 'Abe, Miyoshi, Ono…' It appeared there were many children of old families in this class; it was something to remember if he wanted to do a good job as their teacher. There were quite a few foreigners as well, judging by the names and pictures in the roster. Seeing no point in wasting any more time, he took a deep breath to calm himself. After spending most of the past year researching some ancient ruins in Tibet with the university's archaeology team and a few of his former students, he was still having some slight trouble adapting to life back in Mahora…but there was no point in hesitating any more, it was now or never.

He abruptly snapped the class roster shut and opened the door, smoothly sidestepped the falling eraser, which he caught, and walked toward the podium, only half-conscious of the startled gasps of the students as they caught their first glimpse of their new teacher.

He nonchalantly stepped over the three trip wires and placed the eraser on the rail at the bottom of the chalkboard, then turned to face his new class, not even glancing at the puddle of clear glue on the floor. As he looked from face to surprised face, he realized they really did remind him somewhat of his first class; in fact, Evangeline was smirking at him from her old seat at the back of the classroom while Chachamaru sat calmly in front of her. He recognized the other gynoid Rally, the ghost Sayo-chan as she flickered in and out of sight, and a few other students he had seen around campus or in the city over the past few days. He smiled, and most of the class swooned.

"Hello everyone, I will be your teacher this year. My name is Negi Springfield."

He called roll and began introductions.

* * *

"So aniki, what do you think?" Kamo asked when the first day of school had finally ended and the two of them finally found themselves alone as Negi walked one of the many footpaths that crisscrossed the campus while Kamo rode on his shoulder.

Negi, now officially almost sixteen years old but possessing the body of a nineteen year old due to the time spent training in Eva's resort, smiled slightly as he recalled his first impression of his new class. They were refreshingly spirited, not nearly as rude or foul-tempered as many of his classes after the first one had been. But unfortunately, it seemed as though he had once again been saddled with a class full of weird students. For one thing, as a whole the class was uncommonly tall. For another, there were six foreigners in his class, excluding Evangeline, Rally, and Chachamaru, of course. The usual range of bizarre hair colors was present as well.

"It won't be like the class three years ago, I'm sure," he replied, frowning as he recalled several unpleasant incidents. That particular class had seemed to be little more than a repository for the grade's punks, rebels, and bullies, and he had been forced to fight several students seriously for the first time. He had long ago realized that Eva had merely been testing him when they fought six years ago; and Chao, while serious, had had other goals than causing him injury. Luckily, everything had turned out well in the end, and no one had been seriously hurt. Come to think of it, that had been the class in which he first taught Sakai Reiko, a rather powerful medium who had wedged herself into his group of close friends before anyone realized it. There were at least a few new ones every year, but rarely did they just show up unannounced the way she had. He grinned ruefully at the memory of the girl barging into Eva's resort that day—

"What's with that disgusting look?" The speaker was fairly tall for a Japanese girl; this along with undyed light brown hair and green eyes set her apart from the crowd everywhere in Japan except Mahora. She also carried a beat up leather swordcase slung over one shoulder, and wore the black dresslike uniform associated with St. Ursula High School. "Hello Kamo," she added after a moment.

"Hey, Reiko-ane-san. Got anything today?"

"Nah, nothing's going on. Hey Negi-sensei, I asked you a question."

Negi smiled at her. "Nothing, just thinking about things." He looked at her for a moment as they walked side by side until she turned to look at him, locked eyes with him, and stumbled. "Reiko-san? Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," the girl spat in annoyance more at herself than the teacher as she shook his steadying hand from her arm. "Stubbed my toe."

"Oh…"

She saw Kamo leering at her and shot a warning glare at him. He muffled a laugh with his paw and turned his attention to the path ahead.

"Aniki is getting pretty good now, isn't he?" Kamo asked all too innocently. Reiko stumbled again and cursed under her breath.

"Reiko-san, please do not use such language," Negi said, lost in thought as he mentally ran through the class roster again.

"Sorry," Reiko mumbled. "So how's this year's class?"

"They seem nice," Negi said distractedly as he recalled the introductions and frowned.

"I see; not at all like the class I was in, eh?" the girl replied with her usual smirk.

Negi suppressed a flash of irritation. Like most truly powerful mediums, the girl's body had never been healthy; her health could fail at the slightest provocation. She had developed a rather caustic sense of humor because of her closeness with death and had no problem taking advantage of the reaction this little bit of knowledge brought about in others. It could be extremely irritating, but it was something he had decided to allow. Not that there was much choice; he couldn't bring himself to tell off a girl that could be dead this time next week, and she knew it. "No, that's not what I mean…" he trailed off. "Anyway, judging from past experience I doubt more than five or six of them are 'normal'." Reiko had never been a regular person herself, so it was fine to talk about this sort of thing with her. In fact, he had never had a class with more than a dozen 'regular' people, and every time without fail it came back many times over the school year to bite him in all sorts of new and interesting ways. It could be quite annoying at times. Sometimes he longed for the days when to him, magic had just been, well, _magic_, and wasn't divided up into hundreds of subtypes and bizarre methods he had never even heard of until they were blowing up in his face. Sometimes it seemed that there must be more magic users in the world than regular people...! And then there were the fighters. Oh Lord, the fighters...! He had seen so many varieties of fighting style, from mundane to downright bizarre, that almost nothing ever surprised him anymore. And every one of these people, almost without fail, tried to hide the truth from him, as if he didn't notice them rushing out of the classroom to 'go to the bathroom' or with claims of nausea, clutching whatever magical artifact or tool or weapon they used while talking to themselves about power levels and things. And, without fail, he or his friends and former students had to rescue each and every one of them when they got in over their heads. It was enough to make an otherwise sane man want to bash his head into a wall.

Reiko whistled and Negi came back to himself. "I'm sorry Reiko-san. What did you say?"

"Sounds like an interesting class. Better be careful though, you don't want thirty jealous girls with magic powers and whatnot fighting over you." Negi grunted in annoyed amusement at the old joke and they walked in silence for a time. Heavens knew it had come close to that before. Several times. He started to sweat as some of the more...intense examples came to mind. They walked in friendly silence for a while.

"Going to Eva's house?" Reiko asked after a moment.

Negi nodded as he led the way down the correct path into the woods; it was time for training. Reiko shifted her sword case (a small concession Negi had convinced her to allow as openly carrying a wooden sword tended to cause a lot of problems for a student…the P.E. teacher Max Linell was the only one he knew who could get away with such a thing these days; even his old student Setsuna had to carry her sword in a case) to a more comfortable position and followed. While not a common sight in Eva's resort, Reiko did go there from time to time when she wanted to try out something new that might prove more destructive or attention-getting than was wise in a public place like the Mahora campus.

They made their way through the woods, finally coming to the small clearing where Eva's home stood. It had been in constant use even after Eva had gone out to see the world after Negi released her from the Thousand Master's curse; his old student Misa, Eva's best apprentice, had made it a point to keep the place in good shape while Eva was away, even going so far as to live there in the guest bedroom. She still stayed there from time to time even now, in fact.

Negi knocked on the door, but there was no answer. "They must be in the resort," he said. Kamo and Reiko nodded as he opened the door and led the way inside to the basement.

Inside, the basement was much the same, but the resort itself had changed greatly. Gone was the simple four or five sphere structure Eva had set up during Negi's first year in Mahora. Instead, the resort had grown to fill almost the entire basement and looked like nothing more than a gigantic enclosure for pet mice.

"Whoa, look at that," Reiko said, pointing to one of the larger glass spheres that made up Eva's resort. Negi looked where she was pointing and raised an eyebrow. The entire sphere was filled with swirling dust and debris, evidence of a tremendous blast of power.

"Misa must've made Eva mad again," Reiko said, grinning.

Negi shrugged and entered the resort

* * *

The three of them found themselves standing on the wide entry platform. About fifty feet across, it featured roughly two dozen teleportation circles spaced symmetrically around the edges, each linked to a different section of the resort. It was all very nice and orderly, something Negi appreciated very much after his chaotic first day back as a teacher. After a moment, Chachazero sauntered up to greet them.

"Hello Albert, Reiko. Student. Have you come to play today?"

"Yeah," Reiko said, grinning at the murderous doll. "I think I've got a new trick worked out; wanna help me test it?"

Chachazero agreed enthusiastically, so Negi left Reiko and Kamo there on the platform with her and made his way to one of the teleporters. He activated the teleporter to the desert environment, and an instant later was standing on sand, surrounded by drifting clouds of dirt and dust. He uttered a quick spell that called up his own personal whirlwind to keep the dust away, and made his way toward the steady pulse of magic he felt from somewhere in the swirling dust ahead.

He trudged through the blasting heat and ankle-deep sand for almost ten minutes, calling out at intervals, before he got a response. "Master? Misa-san?"

"Over here, boy," Eva replied from somewhere in the drifting sand ahead.

Negi paused to strengthen the wind spell and increase its area of effect, then quickened his pace until he spotted two vague figures in the dust ahead. "Master?"

"This way."

He strengthened the spell as much as he dared with Master nearby, and watched as the air cleared to reveal Eva, seated comfortably in the sand, cradling the unconscious Misa's head on her lap.

Eva glanced up at him with an interested smile. "She did this all by herself," she explained as she looked back, almost proudly, at Misa's sleeping face. The woman had apparently run out of power and passed out. Misa, out of all the students from Negi's first class, was one of those who had changed the most. The fun loving cheerleader's figure had filled out spectacularly as she matured, and her almost constant training with Eva had revealed a tremendous hidden power. The girl was gifted with shadow and animation magic and could be extremely destructive when she wanted to be. Of course, those were things Eva liked in an apprentice, so she had practically forced Misa to join in after the kidnapping incident six years before.

But in spite of all that, this was a completely new level of power the girl had not shown before.

As the blowing dust and dirt finally began thinned enough to see a fair distance, Negi realized what had happened.

Where this part of Eva's desert environment had previously been a flat plain, most of it was now reduced to a massive crater.

Negi did some quick calculations in his head, and his eyes widened as he realized just how much power this level of destruction had required. "She was able to do this…where do you think she fits as far as power rankings go?"

Eva sighed in annoyance at the boy's question. That stupid ermine had created a power level chart several years back to show the boy where he stood in relation to other magic users at the school. Unfortunately, his students had loved the concept and, one by one, they had all begun to think in terms of power levels. It was quite annoying and virtually useless when one considered just how little of a fight was determined by raw power, but she decided to answer his question anyway.

"She is stronger than you were three years ago boy. She managed that," she pointed at the massive crater, "with no tricks or short cuts, just her power in its most pure form," she said, tapping the sleeping woman's forehead with her finger to emphasize the point.

Negi looked at the mountains and valleys appreciatively, then looked at the destruction she had wrought.

Eva smirked. "Well, I suppose that's fine, she isn't your student any more," she said, looking down at Misa again. "She _is_ attractive, after all." She paused as Negi's face went red, knowing he had been caught 'appreciating' one of his old students. She grinned evilly. "Pick her up, boy. It's time to go back and put her to bed," she said as she carefully lowered the girl's head to the sand and then stood up, smacking her clothing to free the dust from it. "And don't throw her over your shoulder like a sack of flour, either."

Negi turned beet red as he knelt over the long haired girl—no, woman—and picked her up bridal style. He wasn't paying enough attention when he stood up, however, and she rolled slightly toward him and a certain part of her anatomy….squished against the side of his chest. "S-sorry, Kakizaki-san," he spluttered as she made a small sound deep in her throat and snuggled closer in her sleep.

* * *

Reiko squatted down, facing Chachazero and Kamo on the entry platform.

"No, I'm telling you it's Nodoka!" Kamo said dismissively. He took a drag on his cigarette as if saying the matter was settled.

Reiko shook her head. "You're all wrong, Kamo. As much as I respect her, that Nodoka is too much of a wallflower. I bet Negi wants someone more like Ku Fei."

Chachazero cackled. "You're both wrong! It's Asuna. Asuna!" she repeated.

They were interrupted by a flash from the transporter, and Eva appeared. "What are you lot doing?" she demanded lightly.

"We're talking about who the boy wants for love, Master," Chachazero answered. "Making babies."

Kamo took a sip of the wine Chachazero had brought out earlier and sent a measuring look at Eva. "I say he wants Nodoka, Reiko-ane-san says he wants Ku Fei. What do you think, Eva-san?"

Eva took up a glass and poured herself some wine. The teleporter flashed again and Negi appeared, looking incredibly embarrassed as he cradled the unconscious Misa in his arms.

"Judging from the boy's reaction, he wants that one," Eva said, gesturing with the wine glass while Kamo laughed and Reiko snorted in amusement.

"Masteeeerrrrr!" Negi whined.

* * *

Caro Shaw found herself standing in front of the big tree again after wandering through the mazelike system of pathways around the massive campus of Mahora for what felt like hours, now. She had only been here in the city for two days, and had now managed to get herself horribly lost. Somehow, no matter which way she went, she always ended up at the plaza with the giant tree. It was nice and she liked the feeling of the place, but she was trying to find her way back to the dorms, not the tree.

She had hoped to make some friends this year in a new school, but that hadn't worked out either. Everyone else in her class was so vibrant and pretty that she felt herself to be left in the dust. In a class of tall, pretty girls with all sorts of interesting skills and hobbies, she was short, brown haired, and not the least bit interesting. She had no hobbies to speak of, she tended to avoid sports, and had only joined the art club because she had been pressured into it by one of the members, a dazzling and intimidating sempai from the high school named Sakai Reiko. What the other girl had been doing recruiting for a middle school club Caro didn't know; all she knew was that it hadn't seemed so bad, and it was better than being pressured into something she didn't have any interest in at all.

She had hoped to at least find a friend among the other foreigners in her class, but when she had tried to make polite conversation with the short blonde girl she had decided on, the girl had given Caro a look that sent chills down her spine and almost sent her into a crying fit on the spot. As it was, she had had to spend a few minutes in the bathroom to calm down.

"I'll be alone this year too," she said aloud as tears began to fall in spite of her best efforts to avoid it. She wiped them away, but more came to replace them and she looked around frantically. Luckily, there was no one nearby to see her crying, and she soon regained control and forced herself to stop sniffling. 'I'm a big girl now, I can't cry so easily,' she told herself.

She wiped her eyes and trudged over to the big tree and took a quick look around. No one else was nearby, so she put her hands on the bark and scurried up the side like a lizard until she was well hidden among the leaves and branches, and looked for a branch that would hold her weight. Now, well hidden among the foliage, she began sniffling again. No one would see her here, no one would—she heard a noise from above.

"H…hello?" She hesitantly looked upward, but the branches were too thick; all she could see was a shadowy figure making its way down the tree toward her. Then it abruptly dropped down beside her so suddenly she forgot to scream and almost fell off her branch.

The stranger, with a mouthful of riceball, looked at Caro blankly and reached out to help her regain her balance.

When Caro was firmly seated on her branch again, she looked at the new girl shyly. "Thank you…for not letting me fall." The strange girl was a foreigner, but that seemed to be all she had in common with Caro. With dark skin and pale hair, not to mention the odd tattoos on her face, she was like no one Caro had ever seen before. Caro watched as the weird girl sat down and made herself comfortable on her branch.

"You're welcome," the girl said as she looked out over the city.

Caro started to fidget. 'Am I bothering her? Maybe I should climb down…' She moved to climb down but the other girl turned to look at her, and Caro settled back down. 'What do I do? Is she mad at me? She is, isn't she?'

"Um…"

The girl broke her rice ball in two and held out a piece to Caro, who took it hesitantly. She nibbled at it and was relieved to find that the taste was normal. She hadn't known what to expect, but… She stole a quick look at the strange girl and was startled to see her looking back at her.

"I…I'm Caro! It's nice to meet you!" she almost shouted, blushing wildly and hoping that she might have found a new friend.

"…Zazie." The girl took another bite of the riceball and continued looking out at the setting sun.

* * *

Urashima Taro stalked the streets, looking for prey. The local thugs all knew what they would be facing however, so they backed away as Taro approached, muttering things like "Look out!", "Be careful or you'll die!", and "So manly..."

Taro was sick of it. After two years in this town, no one was willing to fight anymore. Things used to be different; in the beginning, everyone had underestimated Taro, rejecting challenges out of hand and generally ignoring the new person in their midst. A few rounds with one street gang's leader and a baseball bat had changed all that, however, and for a time Taro could find a fight anywhere. It was fun. But…Taro had quickly gotten better and better while everyone else remained the same.

After a while, thugs had started to creep back into alleys and bars at Taro's approach, and the street gangs made sure to be someplace Taro wasn't. Taro's name became a thing to be feared, as though speaking the name of Urashima Taro would summon the devil himself. There were even rumors that Taro was a demon in human form…it was ridiculous!

Eventually, with no one to fight and provide that oh-so-addictive adrenaline rush during the daytime, Taro had resorted to going out at night. That was the time when Taro's story became legend. Thieves, muggers, and rapists were leaps and bounds ahead of the petty street punks that Taro had fought before, but they fell just as easily; soon enough, Taro earned the odd nickname of Street Sweeper as the streets of Mahora slowly became safer simply because of her presence.

Eventually, even the nights were no good. Shadowy villains and thugs would slink back in the darkness as Taro passed, ever present baseball bat in hand. When some fool brought out a cheap gun one night, Taro had broken both his arms for the trouble, and at the end had beaten the man over the head with the revolver and thrown it into the river. That was the last real fight Taro had for quite some time. It was said that even the yakuza feared the name of Urashima Taro.

Of course, Taro hated this and started to become increasingly irritable and bellicose. Eventually, however, things began to change. Strangers from nearby towns started to trickle in, searching for the legendary fighter who had defeated some person or other, and were quickly beaten in turn. Stronger people came from further away, and they were beaten as well. Fighters stronger and stronger arrived, and every one of them fell to Urashima Taro. Once, Taro had been surrounded by a biker gang of over fifty people in ridiculous clothes and wild hair, armed with all kinds of weapons from wooden swords to chains to knives.

The leader had parked his bike and swaggered up, leering at Taro and speaking in that ridiculous slang used by street punks who were trying too hard to be street punks. Taro had asked him to repeat himself, using Japanese this time. The man had cursed a blue streak; or at least, Taro thought so, judging from the man's tone and the look on his face. He had then reached out and ripped open the front of Taro's shirt. The ensuing whistles and rude comments quickly drew Taro out of her stunned surprise, and she swore to herself that not a single one of those bikers would leave the place unscathed; that no matter where they went, they would always be looking over their shoulders at any small sound, afraid that Urashima Taro had found them again. They would know better than to underestimate a girl like her, ever again.

For yes, Urashima Taro, despite her boy's name, was a girl. Born to a single mother who died in childbirth, no one knew why her mother had insisted on giving her a boy's name, much less a name so well known for that stupid old story about the guy who went to the undersea kingdom. The rest of the family had taken her in of course, though she had been shuffled around regularly due to her inability to get along with other kids who teased her. Her fondest childhood memories were of the time spent playing at her grandmother's inn with her cousins Kanako and Keitaro, and whoever else happened to be there. While she hadn't seen Keitaro in quite some time, she had trained often with Kanako in her early years, and learned much of fighting from the older girl. And, with ample willing opponents in the form of local bullies to practice on, she had progressed in fine form in recent years.

Fine form indeed, as she had displayed in the hours-long running battle with the biker gang. After the initial explosion of violence, she had led the rest on a merry chase throughout the city, picking them off in twos and threes as soon as they were far enough from their fellows or left an opening. While her name had been legend among the criminal element before, the incident with the biker gang raised it to a mythical level. The local street punks held her up as some sort of god of fighting, and arguments over whether she were better than the legendary Ace of Spades, Ku Fei, or Death Glasses Takahata were common. One thing everyone could agree on however was that if a strong fighter was causing trouble, Taro-kun, as she was commonly known, would beat the troublemaker down.

In fact, she was on her way to do just that right now. A new fighter had blown into town two days ago and quickly made a name for herself by marching straight into gangs of street punks and challenging the lot of them on the spot. She would make short work of one group, then move on to the next, occasionally offering advice on how her victims could improve their skills. Taro, having been busy trying to get settled into the start of the school year, hadn't had time to clear up the trouble until now. But now that she had a whole afternoon with virtually nothing to do, she was going to make it count.

"C'mon Taro-kun, she's over here. They're calling her the 'Red Head Whirlwind'," the boy said nervously as he led her to the site of the upcoming battle. She couldn't help but wince at the horrible nickname, and sighed. Street Sweeper, Death Glasses Takahata, Red Head Whirlwind…these people had no imagination. It was almost like some cheesy shonen manga from the 80s! She took another glance at the young man; he was perhaps a year older than she was herself and she had a feeling she had seen him somewhere before, but the street gangs had so many young people that she couldn't even begin to remember all the faces she had seen, much less which gang he belonged to, or which 'big time' punks he hung around with.

As they rounded the final turn and entered the empty lot hidden between buildings, Taro stopped short, a new sensation she had never felt before stirring in her chest.

There she was, sitting comfortably atop a pile of defeated challengers, long red ponytail blowing in the swirling breeze that was always present in this little vacant lot lost among the buildings. The woman was facing the other way, but raised her head and turned to look at the newcomers as they entered the section of bare concrete.

"It seems there is someone interesting here after all," she said as she stood up and dusted off the seat of her pants before turning to face Taro and the scared boy acting as her guide.

Taro found herself staring at the woman in awe; here, finally…here was someone she had to beat! She took an excited step forward and tried to make herself to calm down and do this right.

The strange woman set herself in an unfamiliar stance and simply…waited.

Taro smirked crazily and, quick as thought, darted forward, all thought gone but for the fight. She had a brief glimpse of blue and green eyes and found herself on the ground an instant later with the woman standing over her.

"You're not done yet," the stranger said. Somehow, coming from her, it wasn't as aggravating as it would have been from anyone else.

Taro got to her feet as the initial burst of excitement faded away and logical thought returned. She recalled her lessons with Kanako-nee and took a stance. She watched carefully as the other woman shifted slightly, and frowned. She hadn't faced someone like this in a long, long time. She went at her again, feinting from the right, and then the air was driven from her lungs as she hit the ground hard, the other woman's movements so fast she hadn't even seen how she threw her.

The woman stepped back and let her get to her feet again. The stranger was smiling…and, strangely enough, Taro felt a smile creeping up on her own face as well. She wiped it from her face and cleared her mind of distractions, just the way Kanako-nee had taught her. Less than fifteen seconds later, she was flat on her back again, and the other woman was grinning widely.

"You can do better than that," she said, urging Taro on.

Taro lay there for a moment, catching her breath, and finally sat up. The stranger backed away to give her room, and Taro got back to her feet. "Yeah, you're right. I can." This time, she really _did_ cut out all distractions; the small group of onlookers, the boy who had guided her here, the constant wind...it was just Taro and the stranger, facing each other.

"Now that's better," the woman said.

Taro didn't reply. Instead, she moved to attack and the woman moved to meet her, and for a long time there was nothing but the fight as the two went at it, neither landing a hit in the flurry of blows.

On and on and on they went, and Taro found herself pushed further than she ever had been before. Her heart was pounding, her breath was racing, it felt as if her blood itself were boiling…! But the woman simply slipped around anything she tried with ease, and it was all Taro could do to keep from getting—a glancing blow spun her half around, but she used to momentum to keep going and completed the spin, knocked the woman off balance with a backhand blow with her left hand, and…she landed a solid hit with the right.

* * *

Asuna had known the girl had potential from the first instant she noticed her rounding the corner into the back lot. It was plain in the way the girl walked, the way she stood, the way she had looked at her. She had been looking for people like this girl, but until today her search had been fruitless. There were plenty of strong fighters in Mahora, but the majority of them hadn't had a real feel for it, not like Ku Fei or Mana or the others. Most would never even have lasted through the training. Already, most of the old fighters she used to know, people like Gotokuji and Daigouin and the others, had denied her offer. She had to gather strong people, the visions she had seen required it. If she didn't, then…

She hit a glancing blow on the girl, shifted her weight, and her foot slipped on some loose gravel; there was no time to recover her balance as the girl spun around, power flickering around her, and Asuna's eyes widened. 'This is going to hurt.'

* * *

Taro's fist took the woman full in the stomach and she had a quick view of the stranger's eyes widening almost comically just before an explosion shook the alley and blasted her away.

When the dust cleared, Taro got slowly to her feet and looked around warily. Where had the woman gone? What had caused that explosion? What— She paused mid-step.

Taro gaped at the wall of a building across from her, and the new hole it had aquired. Her mind raced as she finally took in her surroundings. Bricks and broken masonry littered the back lot and the pavement was ruined, cracks radiating out from the place she had stood at the time of the explosion. The onlookers were all gone.

Someone chuckled and she turned back toward the hole in the wall to see an arm reach up and grab the edge. The arm was followed by a disheveled head, and then the strange woman stood up and climbed out through the hole as a few loose bricks fell. She coughed to clear her throat.

"I'm sorry! I don't know what happened!" Taro wailed.

The other woman ignored her, however, and began brushing the dust from her clothes. "Prepare yourself," she said as she held her hands up oddly. "Magic in the left, Ki in the right…"

"What…?" Taro said, trailing off as something she could just barely see flared violently into being around the woman. The wind kicked up wildly and Taro had to shade her eyes from the flying dust.

The woman across from her made a quick movement and then Taro's world exploded into brilliant whiteness as pain jolted through her. More pain than she had ever experienced before, so tremendous that free thought was lost and she abruptly, mercifully, blacked out.

* * *

_**Author's Notes:**_ _Well, there is the first real chapter. I hope everyone enjoys this new story in the Still Waters series. I included some character profiles below, please read them to get a better feel for the characters. Also, if you don't know who Reiko or the 'legendary Ace of Spades' is, please see the short story The Ace of Spades on this site. Also, if you're confused, check the date at the top of the chapter.  
_

* * *

Caro Shaw - Student number 21

Born 2/28/1995

Height - 5'

Art Club

Likes: Bunny rabbits, tall trees, peaceful times

Dislikes: strife, loud music.

Roommate: Sasaki Rina

Little Known Facts: Very good with her hands

* * *

Urashima Taro - Student number 28

Born 4/18/1994

Height - 5'5"

Fighting Club

Likes: Kanako-nee, Keitarou-nii, justice

Dislikes: Criminals, lawbreakers

Roommate: N/A

Little Known Facts: Probably pretty attractive if she took the time to clean up.

* * *

Sakai Reiko - Student at St. Ursula, Sarcastic Medium

Born 1/23/1993

Height - 5'5"

Art Club

Likes: Freedom, foods with lots of cinnamon

Dislikes: Noisy people, receiving orders

Roommate: N/A

Little Known Facts: She lives in the city rather than the dorm; she also has a weak constitution.


	4. Ch 2 New Beginnings pt 2

**Still Waters 3, Chapter 2, New Beginnings Part 2**

* * *

_Get back to where you once belonged._

* * *

_Monday, April 6th, 2009, Evening_

_Mahora  
_

* * *

The first thing Taro became aware of was the pain. A great pulsing, aching pain that consumed her whole body. She somehow gathered the energy to force her eyelids open a little, and was surprised to see the late afternoon sky above her. What the…? The last thing she remembered, she had just gotten out of school and some guy came up saying he needed her help. And then…what? An instant later, the memory of what had happened flooded back.

She jerked up to a seated position and her head spun. She would have fallen over again had a steadying hand not gripped her shoulder.

"Whoa, be careful okay? I tried to hold back, but you got hit pretty hard."

Taro clenched her eyes shut as the dizziness made her stomach lurch. 'I know that voice…!' She opened her eyes when the dizziness passed and somehow wasn't very surprised to see the red haired woman she had been fighting earlier kneeling beside her. She tensed up and tried to pull away.

"Don't worry, I won't do anything," the stranger said, raising her hands in a placating manner.

"Why did you stay?" Taro asked warily. She was curious, now. Something like this was unusual; pretty much anyone who did much fighting left the loser to fend for themselves afterward. Unless their injuries could be fatal, anyway. That was just the way it was done…so why was the older woman still here? She caught herself staring at mismatched eyes and turned away.

"Curiosity," the woman said, her face showing amusement at something. Taro didn't see what there was to be amused about.

"You're pretty good, how long have you been fighting?" the woman asked.

Taro puffed herself up. "All my life," she said proudly. "They call me the Street Sweeper around here."

The strange woman smiled at that. "'Street Sweeper?' That's a unique title," she said. "What's your name?"

"What's yours?" Taro asked rudely.

"Ah…forgive me. I'm Kagurazaka Asuna, pleased to meet you," she said patiently, holding out a hand.

Taro took the woman's hand and allowed herself to be pulled to her feet. She held on and swayed for a moment until the expected bout of dizziness passed. "Urashima," she said.

"Just 'Urashima'?" Asuna asked, grinning slightly.

"T-Taro."

"U-Urashima Taro…wow," Asuna said, shaking her head. "How could your parents do that to you?"

"I know, right?"

The two of them stood in silence for a moment, just looking at each other.

"So…what did you do? At the end of the fight?" Taro asked. Her curiosity was killing her; she had never, ever, seen anything like that before; not in real life, anyway. It had been like something in a movie...!

Asuna knelt down to pick up the badly scuffed sword case that had been lying beside her on the ground while she waited for Taro to wake. She carefully tucked the ribbons and bells poking out of the end back in before replying to the question with one of her own. "So you saw that, did you?"

"Yeah…you were glowing," Taro said. Asuna grinned slightly. The girl's earlier antagonistic attitude was completely gone now; it was quite amusing. This Taro girl probably thought acting like a delinquent made her look cool! Too bad she couldn't seem to remember to keep it up. Asuna barely managed to hold back a laugh at the thought.

"You did something similar, you know," Asuna said. "When you sent me through that wall." Her grin widened at the embarrassed look on Taro's face. Teasing the girl was quite fun.

Taro paused to think that over. "What do you mean?" she asked warily.

"I used something called 'kanka', but I think yours was just ki," Asuna said. She patted some dust from her clothes and slung the sword case onto her shoulder as she stood there, watching Taro.

"…you're kidding, right?" Taro asked. That was crazy! She had heard of ki before of course, it was hard to play videogames or read manga without hearing about it. But Asuna was saying it was _real_? She began smacking the dust from her clothes in an effort to buy some time for thought. Ki…it would be really cool if it really _was_ real. Her big sis Kanako-nee sometimes did things that seemed—

Asuna straightened up and untied the pony tail she had used to hold her long hair back during the fight. "Afraid not, Taro-kun. Can I call you Taro-kun?"

Taro rolled her eyes and shrugged. "Everyone else does."

"Anyway, if you want to learn more, just give me a call; I'm staying here in town," Asuna said as she held out a slip of paper to Taro. "I've got somewhere I need to be, so I'll see you later?" She waited a moment for Taro to nod. "Good. Good luck, Taro-kun," Asuna said, already walking away.

Taro watched her go and then looked down at the paper, on which the woman had written a phone number. She pocketed the piece of paper and decided to head back to the dorm.

* * *

As evening fell, the students and teachers of Mahora returned to wherever they called home.

Some students visited with friends from previous years, some lazed about in the common room, and some simply went straight to their rooms. Mochizuki Kagami was one of the last group.

Kagami ignored the other students as she half-walked, half-ran to the dorm building she was assigned to. A quick nod to the dorm mother upon entering, and she was off up the stairs. She avoided the other students as they crowded together gossiping like children, and finally entered the room she had been assigned to. She locked the door after her and collapsed on the bed. Today had been exhausting! She just lay there for a moment, looking up at Endo's bunk above her as she let the stress of the day wind down.

"Are you in here, Endo?" she called out. She waited for a minute or so, in case the girl was in the bathroom, and smiled tiredly when no response came. Good, she had a few minutes of peace and quiet. She rolled over on her stomach and hung off the bed, and reached underneath to pull out a fair sized gym bag. She lifted it up onto the bed and sat up. A quick glance at the door made sure it was latched, so she reached into the bag and took out a small box.

She opened the box and carefully placed it on the bed and, for the first time all day, smiled a genuine smile as the little playdoh cat stepped out and walked around, exploring its new surroundings. Kagami had taken special care of it since that day six years before, when that older girl made it come alive.* There had been hundreds of playdoh cats at the time, all of them running wild through her brother's warehouse. But they had all stopped moving within a few hours, all but this one, the one the mysterious girl had fixed especially for her. She dropped a piece of candy in front of it and smiled as the little cat started batting it around.

"Ooh wow, it's so cute!"

Kagami scooped up the fake cat and stuffed it under the blanket in a quick motion as she turned to see who the interloper was. Her roommate, Endo Haru, grinned back at her from the doorway.

"Where did you get that? It's so cute!"

She had only known Endo for two days, but she knew the girl wasn't normally this…girly. "It's a toy," she lied. "It doesn't work right and can be broken easily, so nobody can touch it but me," she explained, using the excuse she had worked out years ago. She waved off her roommate's objections and carefully placed the playdoh cat back into its box and zipped the bag shut.

Endo plopped down in her chair in defeat and spun it around for a moment. "Aaaaahhh, I was too late to join the rock club, they already have a bassist," she said as she spun, looking blankly up at the ceiling.

Endo Haru was a good natured, curious student with quite eccentric tastes, from what Kagami had seen. Energetic and athletic, she had unfortunately burned off any curves that tried to develop, and was thus often teased as being Too Manly by the other girls. No one could deny her face was cute, though. Kagami couldn't decide if she hated the girl or was just annoyed by her existence.

"That's too bad," Kagami said absently as she looked through some papers one of her teachers had passed out earlier in the day.

"Yeah," Endo replied, still spinning the office chair. They remained in near silence that way for perhaps ten seconds. "So what do you think about our teacher?" she asked, not noticing or choosing to ignore Kagami's irritation at her. She kicked off with her foot and spun the chair around again.

Kagami didn't answer for a moment. "He's…okay, I guess," she said, making a big show of digging more papers from her bag in a failed attempt to hide the luminescent blush that came out in spite of her best efforts to remain expressionless.

Endo's constant smile turned into a Cheshire Cat grin. "I _know_," she gushed. Whether through innocence or a certain denseness, few things could make Endo Haru blush; but apparently their teacher, Negi Springfield, was one of them. "How old do you think he is?" she asked, then continued on as if she didn't expect an answer. "He can't be much older than us, but I heard he's been a teacher here for six years."

Kagami, completely red now and facing the wall, spoke again. "A-and that scar on his cheek…" she trailed off. It was so _manly_...! She shivered.

"I _know_!" Endo gushed again. "He's so cool I could die!"

* * *

Sakai Reiko waved goodbye to Negi and Kamo as they headed for the teacher's dorm. She stretched and gave a big yawn, and glanced up at the world tree with the lowering sun so picturesque behind it. A glimmer of something on one of the lower branches caught her attention, so she strolled across the few hundred yards separating her from the tree and glanced up along the trunk. She hadn't seen it clearly, but something about it reminded her of Zazie, who spent a lot of time in the tree. 'Zazie, huh...' she thought as she looked from the tree to the road and back. She was tired from 'playing' with Chachazero in Eva's resort, but…

The world tree plaza was empty as it usually was during the first week or so of school. Things would change once everyone got used to school life again and had time to wander around and explore; but for now, the plaza might as well have belonged to Reiko. She focused on the ki amplifier in her pocket, one of her many 'toys', and crouched down as she channeled power to her legs. She was careful to do it properly, using the power to not only increase her leg strength, but also reinforce her body in order to weather the crushing stresses that lightning fast movement forced on a body. If not done correctly, a perfectly healthy person could easily die, and with her body in the condition it was she couldn't afford to take any chances.

When she was ready, she took one last quick look around and jumped the twenty feet or so to the first branch and scrambled up, shaking off the adrenaline rush that always accompanied such feats. She looked around, but couldn't see any unnatural movement, so she began climbing up to where she thought it had been. She had gone perhaps ten feet before spotting another movement.

"Hey Zazie, I've got a question about that trick you showed me…you're not Zazie," Reiko said as she paused, halfway up on a branch.

Caro Shaw peeked down at her nervously and gulped. "Um...Zazie-san already left..."

"Who are you?" Reiko demanded as she finished climbing up. She stood up on her branch and propped her arms on the branch Caro was sitting on. "…do I know you?" she asked hesitantly as her forehead wrinkled in thought.

"Um…I…you made me join the art club," Caro said, embarrassed.

"Why are you acting like that? It's not like some guy saw you naked or anything," Reiko demanded. "But anyway, I remember you now. Saro or Caro or something like that, right? Yeah, Caro." Reiko cocked her head to the side and gave Caro a searching look. "How'd you get up here anyway?"

"…ah…"

"Spit it out," Reiko demanded, further cowing the shy girl.

"…I climbed up," Caro said shyly, looking down at her shoes.

Reiko just looked at her for a moment. The girl certainly didn't _look_ athletic enough to climb a tree like this; she was short and skinny, and not the wiry sort of skinny that could hide unexpected strength. All in all, she seemed rather below average as far as anything physical went. "Are you…? Nevermind. You can get down on your own, right?"

Caro nodded.

"That's good. Pay attention in the art club; if I hear you're skipping my underclassman's club I'll get mad," Reiko said as she looked down at the ground. "See ya later, Caro-chan," Reiko said, and then she dropped out of sight.

Caro gasped and moved to look so quickly she almost fell off her branch, but the strange girl was just fine, standing on the ground forty feet below and dusting off her uniform skirt. Reiko finished smacking the dust from her clothes, straightened her skirt, and pulled a leaf from her hair before strolling away carelessly, leaving Caro to wonder if she had been showing off, or was just crazy. First Zazie, now this girl...what sort of weird place was this?

* * *

Negi tiredly fished his keys out of his pocket and unlocked the door to his room in the teachers' dorm. He pushed the door open on a dark room and sighed again.

"What's wrong aniki?" Kamo finally asked from his usual spot on Negi's shoulder. Negi sometimes fell into dark moods like this, and if left alone would laze about for days before he snapped out of it.

"I'm a horrible person, Kamo-kun," Negi replied after a moment as he turned on a couple of lamps. Kamo climbed down and Negi shrugged out of his coat and tossed it at a nearby chair. It landed on the floor and he flopped down on the couch with a thud that sent dust flying everywhere, drawing a few small coughs from Kamo.

"It's okay aniki," Kamo said as he climbed up on another chair. "Tell Dr. Kamo all about it."

Negi, lying on his back with one leg thrown over the back of the couch and the other draped over the armrest on the other end of it, untied his necktie and dropped it to the floor. "I looked at a former student with sinful eyes," he finally said, turning red at the shameful confession. He slumped even further into the couch as he looked blankly upward.

Kamo simply heaved a much put-upon sigh and shook his head. He made a 'tsk' sound and started his lecture. "Aniki, we've had this conversation before. You may be a teacher, but you're also a man, and a man has needs," Kamo explained. He started to elaborate, but Negi quickly cut him off.

"It doesn't matter Kamo, I shouldn't be looking at Misa-san like that…And how could Master order me to carry her like that?" Negi asked indignantly.

"How was it?" Kamo asked deviously.

"She was so soft in all the right places," Negi said, drifting off into a rather pleasant memory. "Hey! Stop that, Kamo," Negi said, his irritation and embarrassment plain on his face.

"Fufufu, my little Negi is all grown up," Kamo said. "All that is left now is to live out my remaining years in peace…" He glanced sideways at Negi to gauge his reaction only to catch the teacher's shirt with his face. Kamo fell backward off the chair and let out a startled "Ack!"

Negi stood up, wearing only his slacks and an undershirt, and headed for the bathroom. "Kamo, I'm taking a shower. Check the mail, okay?" he asked as he opened the bathroom door and flicked the light on.

"Leave it to me, aniki," Kamo said as he scanned through the mail Negi had collected earlier. The shower came on as he tossed the usual haul of omiai invitations into the trashcan and was left with a letter from Negi's cousin in Wales and the newest issue of Ermineworld Magazine. Idly wondering what the mailman must think of a teacher receiving _that_ sort of magazine, he left the letter where Negi would see it on the coffee table and headed for the bedroom to add the magazine to his collection. Oddly enough, the bedroom door was cracked open, so Kamo put down the magazine and slipped inside to investigate. What he saw there brought a big grin to his face, so he came back out and climbed up into the chair again with his magazine while he waited for Negi to finish his shower.

He idly flipped the pages of the magazine, scanning an article here, looking at a picture there, until he came to the cover story.

"Hmm…That Wilhelermina looks better and better in every issue," Kamo said aloud as he turned the magazine sideways and unfolded the extra long insert and whistled.

After a few moments, the sounds of the shower stopped and a short time later Negi emerged from the bathroom with a towel in one hand and another wrapped around his waist. "Hey Kamo, did you spill some of the shampoo? It's almost gone," Negi said as he dried his hair.

Kamo didn't bother to look up from his magazine. "Must have been me. Sorry about that, aniki," he said. "Better get to sleep early tonight, don't you think?" he asked as he glanced over at Negi, who had given up on his hair and had simply left the towel draped over it. "And dry yourself off, you're dripping on the carpet."

"Yeah, yeah," Negi replied and whipped the towel from his head and started removing what little water was still present. "I guess I will go to bed early. It has been a long day," Negi said. He failed to hold back a yawn and headed for the bedroom.

"The light bulb's burned out in there," Kamo said, laying the foundation of the last part of his plan. If Negi didn't even try to turn on the light, he wouldn't see until…

"I'll replace it tomorrow," Negi replied as he opened the door and entered the dark room.

Kamo waited until the door was shut, then put his magazine down and scurried over. He pressed his ear against the door and waited, listening carefully. At first, the only thing he heard were the usual sounds of someone stumbling around in the dark, bumping into things here and there and muttering under his breath. The bed creaked and Negi heaved a heavy sigh, and Kamo strained his senses for what would come next. Would he…?

There was nothing but silence for a long ten count.

…

…

…

"Eeeeehhh?" The shriek was loud enough to set Kamo's ears ringing, but he continued to listen anyway.

"W-w-what?"

"Pervert!"

"Who—Ow! Stop that! Who are you? This is my—Ow, come on, I said—Ow! That hurt!"

"That's the idea, pervert! Die!"

As he listened to the sounds of breaking glass and furniture, Kamo couldn't help but feel a little bad about this…but his sanity quickly returned, and he made a lecherous grin as he continued listening.

Then the bedroom light flicked on and brought on the sound of dual shocked gasps. There was nothing but silence for a moment, and Kamo began to sweat as he slowly backed away from the door.

"Kamo-kun told me the light bulb was burned out," Negi said, his voice carefully level. Kamo backed further away from the door and got ready to run.

"That perverted ermine," a woman said. "I'll kill him." There was a pause, and then she continued. "And you, Negi!"

"Me?"

"Yes you! What's wrong with you, parading around half naked in front of an innocent woman like that? Put some clothes on."

Kamo turned tail and ran just as the door was thrown open, but it was too late. Someone grabbed him by the tail and lifted him high into the air. "Ow owow, you're gonna pull my tail out! My tail!"

"You'll be lucky if your tail is the only thing you lose, pervert ermine," the woman said as she gave him a good shake. She turned him until they were face to face, and Kamo began sweating in earnest as he looked at those mismatched eyes with dread.

"Ane-san, it's so good to see you back! What a nice surprise!" Kamo said, hoping Asuna would buy the deception. She gave him another hard shake instead. "By the way, nice shirt, ane-san."

Asuna was startled speechless for a moment, then her face went red. "It was all I could find!" she growled as she gave Kamo one final shake for good measure. The shirt and pants she was currently wearing both belonged to Negi, actually. He had outgrown them years ago, however. Not that that bothered Kamo in the least; the tight clothing combined with Asuna's hair being let down and slightly mussed from sleep had a _very_ nice effect, in the ermine's opinion.

"Looking good, ane-san. You'll hook Negi for sure like that," Kamo said, unable to resist the expression he knew she would make even as he prayed for the end to be quick.

"Why you—!"

* * *

Later, when everyone had calmed down and Negi was decent, Negi and Asuna sat facing each other on the chair and couch, respectively.

"So…when did you get back, Asuna-san?" Negi asked. Back on the day when Asuna graduated high school, she had suddenly bid Negi and the others goodbye and followed Konoka and Setsuna to Kyoto. At the time, she had claimed it was to learn how to _really _use a sword rather than just swinging it around or copying Setsuna's moves. That hadn't been the whole story though, and the whole situation had always bothered Negi. Naturally, he had always wondered if Asuna had been trying to get away from him; there was no doubt that being around him had made her life tougher than it would have been otherwise.

"A few days ago," Asuna said, shrugging off the question. She had no doubt Negi had worried about her, but…if he couldn't handle something like that, it was time for him to grow up. Not to say she hadn't worried quite a bit about him, but that was a different matter. Totally different. In every way. The conversation drifted from topic to topic, but never went beyond the most shallow of subjects, and soon the air grew heavy with everything that had gone unsaid. They drifted into an awkward silence.

Negi began picking at a loose thread dangling from his shirt sleeve when Kamo climbed up on the back of his chair and whispered in his ear.

"Come on aniki, you've got to do something."

Negi glanced over at Asuna, who was now strolling around the room, inspecting his antiques and flipping through random magazines. She snorted and gave Kamo a mild glare as she picked up an old issue of ErmineWorld Magazine between thumb and forefinger, as if it might be carrying some horrific disease. Kamo grinned at her uneasily as she strolled over to the trashcan and paused.

"What's this?" she asked, dropping the magazine as she knelt down and reached into the can.

Negi just sat in his chair, blinking.

"…Omiai invitations? And you just threw them out?" Asuna asked as she flipped through the half dozen or so envelopes. "You didn't even open them!"

"Well…" Negi began. "Most of them are from old students, and…well…"

"Spit it out."

"I wouldn't feel right doing…that," Negi finished lamely, sweating as he turned his head.

Asuna gave him a weird look, but shook her head and dropped the invitations back into the trashcan. "Just like I thought. Just look at this place!"

Negi looked around, clueless.

"As usual you have no sense of taste, Negi," Asuna chided. "Look at that rug! Where did you find something so ugly?"

Negi muttered something unintelligible but Asuna didn't appear to care; she moved through the room, pointing at things and generally insulting his tastes. Negi bore it in his usual manner until Asuna ran out of things to complain about and stood facing him, hands on hips.

"Would you like some tea, Asuna-san?" he asked, not knowing what else to say.

"…Yeah. Tea would be nice."

"Right then. Have a seat please, I will be right back," Negi said. When he had left, Asuna let out a deep breath she hadn't been aware of holding, and slumped down on the couch.

Kamo, ever ready with a cutting remark or suggestive comment, leered at her and moved in for the kill.

"So what do you think? Not bad, huh?" Kamo asked, nudging her with his elbow.

"What?" Asuna asked defensively as she eyed the ermine.

"He's pretty good, isn't he ane-san?" Kamo asked, grinning.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Asuna said. She crossed her arms under her breasts and pointedly looked away, dismissing the ermine.

"Here is your tea, Asuna-san," Negi said as he reentered the room a moment later.

"Thank you," Asuna said, leaping at the chance to change the subject. "How's your new class, Negi?"

Negi sat down in the chair again and made himself comfortable before he answered. "It's…not bad, so far. They tried the eraser trick and some tripwires connected to a water balloon trap," he said, smiling a little as he recalled the first-day tricks his previous classes had attempted over the years. "And some glue, too. I think they were trying to make my shoes stick to the floor, but the glue was too dry. They would have been better off with flypaper, really."

Asuna grinned and sipped her tea. Negi couldn't help but stare for a moment…Asuna had changed so much. While she had always been energetic and almost childish, even up to her high school graduation, the girl that sat before him now was…elegant. She seemed much more in control of herself, from the peaceful look on her face to the way she carried herself. And it wasn't the forced sort of control that comes from a child trying to be an adult, but something more...more...he couldn't think of a good word to describe it. Even in her seemingly harsh back and forth with Kamo, she still seemed so much more than she had been before. Was this what it meant to be trained by the Shinmeiryu? Negi was jolted from his thoughts so hard he almost jumped when her eyes met his.

"Negi? Is something wrong?"

He could feel his eyes moistening as tears threatened to fall. "It's…it's really nice to see you again, Asuna," Negi said, unconsciously dropping the usual honorific as he wiped his eyes. He realized he was fighting a losing battle when he felt Asuna's arms snake around him and pull him close. Tears began to fall in earnest, and he realized she was patting his back.

"It's nice to see you too, Negi," she said quietly, her breath tickling his ear and the back of his neck.

Kamo sat back and took a sip of tea as he watched the two of them. "Just like the old days, isn't it?" he said to himself.

* * *

A few hours later, Negi looked up at the ceiling from his place on the couch and pulled his blanket tighter. Asuna had come back, and he was happy. He had been hurt when she had left, but she wasn't mad at him and she didn't hate him. In fact, she seemed to be as happy to see him as he was to see her. He sighed happily, a grin slipping into place as he relaxed.

Asuna had asked for his permission to stay here for a few days until she could find a hotel or apartment somewhere, and he had gladly let her move in. She had asked for the couch as expected, but as an English Gentleman, he had simply refused and insisted she take the bed instead. She had accepted that reluctantly with a comment about how he shouldn't try so hard, but…

Negi pulled up his blanket and rolled over. Now that Asuna was back, things might become good again.

* * *

* _For more on playdoh cats and the mysterious older girl, __See Still Waters 2, Chapter 17_

_**Author's Notes**_: _I have included short profiles for Endo Haru and Mochizuki Kagami below, as well as Student number 26. Please enjoy._

* * *

Endo Haru - Student number 17

Born - 1/29/1995

Height - 5'7"

Bicycling Club

Likes: Running, rabbits, wolves, cats

Dislikes: dogs, her figure

Roommate: Mochizuki Kagami

Little Known Facts: Due to her family situation, her parents had to move many times in her childhood before they finally sent her to Mahora.

* * *

Mochizuki Kagami - Student number 18

Born - 8/11/1994

Height - 5'5"

Cooking Club

Likes: Her brother, Misa-sama, cats

Dislikes: Meddlesome people, dogs

Roommate: Endo Haru

Little Known Facts: Secretly likes cosplay, one of many secrets she has.

* * *

Evangeline A.K. McDowell - Student number 26

Born - ?

Height - 4'3"

Tea Ceremony Club

Likes: Go, interesting people.

Dislikes: Stupid people, you.

Roommate: N/A

Little Known Facts: She dislikes you and wishes for you to die.


	5. ch 3 New Beginnings pt 3

**Still Waters 3, Chapter 3, New Beginnings Part 3**

* * *

_Little Darling It's Been a Long Cold Lonely Winter_

* * *

_Negi roared as he launched himself at the enemy that had just struck down Asuna, drawing the chipped, badly beaten sword that had never left his side in the past three years as he went. The enemy was ready for him though, and blocked the initial attack with a casual flick of his wrist, knocking Negi's sword out of line with his body and snapping it in half. Caught off balance and overextending himself, without his magic Negi had no means of defense against the other man's next strike, which took him in the side and all but cut him in half, his lifeless body falling over Asuna's as they joined each other in death. Nodoka's horrified paralysis broke an instant later and she ran at the enemy, screaming, only to be cut down even more easily than Negi had, and Chisame was left alone on the battlefield, surrounded by the corpses of her friends and allies, and the enemy approached, victorious. He paused before her and, before her momentary paralysis could break, raised his blade high over his head with both hands and-_

Chisame awoke with a start, jerking upright in bed as she clutched at the spot on her shoulder where the blade would have struck with enough force to split her in two. She looked around at her unfamiliar surroundings wildly, the dream still fresh in her mind. 'Did I survive? How? That should...have...'

"...a dream..." she said aloud. She gave a little semi-hysterical laugh and turned, swinging her legs off over the edge of the bed as she did so. She sat there like that for a moment as she tried to calm herself. Her heart was racing...! It had just been a dream...she shivered and rubbed her shoulder, where the blade would have hit had she not woken up. She knew _exactly_ how that sort of thing felt, though she didn't have the scars to prove it. But that dream, that _memory_...

"It won't happen, not this time," she muttered frantically under her breath, visions of her dead friends running through her mind.

* * *

_Monday, April 13th, 2009_

* * *

The second day of school came and went, followed by the third and the fourth and the fifth.

Halfway through the second Monday of the school year found Max Linell directing his P.E. class into a game of high-stakes dodgeball; the losing team would have to clean the large outdoor swimming pool in the near future. It was in part a social experiment to see how the new group of students functioned in a team environment, but mostly an excuse to use the students as cheap labor. The swimming pools needed to be cleaned after all; no one liked seeing green slime floating around while they were swimming.

"Nice one, Whiskey," he called out as one of the girls threw a blisteringly fast ball that made a satisfying _smack_ sound as it hit another girl's shoulder that probably left a red mark under her shirt. The girl's name wasn't really Whiskey, of course, but the nickname came naturally to him and seemed to have stuck; he had heard several other students referring to her by that name already. As for the source…well, Possum Cade's eyes were of a color his old friend Byron commonly called whiskey, and Max couldn't bring himself to call the girl 'Possum'; he knew the animals well, and that was simply too cruel of a thing to call a girl. He glanced over the rest of the class and made a mental note to warn the Urashima girl after class about using too much force; they were playing a game, not trying to hurt each other. He winced as she bounced a ball off the Mochizuki girl's head and thought for a moment he might have to intervene. He had seen Mochizuki's temper set loose on other students…it was not a pretty thing. He sighed and stood up straight as she took a few steps toward the Urashima girl, but a painfully athletic girl quickly took her aside and somehow managed to calm her down, so he relaxed again and leaned back against the wall. He had thought for sure he would have to break up a fight, there…both Mochizuki and Urashima had terrible tempers, and both of them, especially Urashima, had already gained a reputation as troublemakers.

"So, what do you think about the game, Sachi?" Max asked, glancing at the girl who stood calmly beside him. Nakamura Sachiko was the class rep, and fit the part quite well. Cool and elegant, she was one of those rare students who seem to radiate a sense of peace and unpretentious nobility. Most of the other girls avoided her like the plague.

"Urashima-san uses too much force. It seemed as though Mochizuki-san would start a fight after being hit like that; it was a real surprise to see Endo-san step in. Overall, an active class; Yoshida-san and Caro-chan, however…"

Max nodded. "I see what you mean." Yoshida and Caro had been the first two students eliminated. They weren't fat or unhealthy, but were rather just normal students in a class filled with the exceptional. As for Sachiko, the class rep had calmly and quietly separated herself from the other students every time he had tried to get them to do team activities. He was a bit concerned as a teacher, but the girl seemed to see herself as some sort of parental figure to the other students, and acted as if she didn't want to interfere in their fun. The other students didn't seem to know what to do around her, either. A quick movement off to the left caught his attention.

"Hey Youko! I see you over there…get back here! Hey!"

Sachiko smiled so slightly that only someone who knew her well would ever realize it _was_ a smile as she watched the teacher chase after the other girl, then turned back to watch the dodgeball game.

Student after student was eliminated until only five students remained. Urashima Taro and Possum Cade on one side, Hayashi Fujiko from the Judo Club, Sato Gin, a tall, ungainly girl who nevertheless was quite good at dodging, and Endo Haru, who seemed to be Mochizuki Kagami's friend. Sachiko nodded at Max-sensei when he returned, and scooted over to make some space for him on the wall.

"Didn't catch her," Max said when he had made himself comfortable. "Youko's a real handful."

Sachiko nodded at that. Miyoshi Youko, while new to the campus, had already obtained a reputation as a prankster. Half the class had already fallen prey to her tricks, and, if rumors were to be believed, so had several teachers. Her attention was drawn back to the game by the rubbery _smack_ of ball hitting another person; this time it was Hayashi-san who had been eliminated. Hayashi-san glared at Cade-san for a moment before stalking off the field to stand with the others.

Honestly, there was far too much anger in this class.

When Urashima-san finally got eliminated, Sachiko thought for a moment the tomboy might tackle Endo-san; instead, Urashima-san settled for what could only be termed a 'death glare' and joined the others who had already been eliminated and proceeded to cheer for her last remaining teammate, Cade-san, in her own unique way.

"Get 'em Whiskey! If I have to clean the pool next time…!"

"Yeah yeah I get it. Shut up and let me concentrate," the American girl said. She nimbly sidestepped to avoid a ball, then threw her own, which bounced off Sato-san's shoulder, eliminating her.

Sachiko heard Max grunt and knew he was amused despite the disapproving look he shot Urashima-san after her vague threat. After a frantic exchange of throws, Cade-san eliminated Endo-san and the game was over, accompanied by much grumbling and lamenting on the part of the losing team while the winning team gathered around Cade-san, clapping her back and congratulating her.

Max restored order and ended the class, sending the girls back to change. He was a bit surprised to see Sachiko still standing where he had left her, though. "Hey Sachi, why are you still here? Don't you want to go with your friends?" he asked. Sachiko gave him an odd look, and he realized he had practically growled at her, and sighed. Still, after all these years, he _still_ kept screwing up…

Sachiko turned back to look across the athletics field. "There is someone over there," she said, pointing to a woman wandering along one of the footpaths on the other side of the field.

Though her hair was longer than the last time he had seen her, Max would have recognized that distinctive shade of pink anywhere. "Go ahead and change, Sachi. I'll take care of it," he said, a slight grin slipping over his face as he jogged off across the field.

Sachiko nodded and headed for the showers. She hadn't participated, so she hadn't worked up a sweat; however, it was expected of her, so she went anyway. As usual, the friendly chatter dropped several levels as she entered the room and made her way to an empty shower stall at the far end. She could feel several of the others looking at her, but she was used to that. It bothered her a lot, of course, and…well…she didn't know what to do to make them stop. She had tried her best at this new school to not interrupt the lives of her new classmates, but apparently she had failed again. She tried to stay away from them, tried to keep from bothering them, but this only brought her to their attention, and they had elected her as the class representative and for the most part seemed to be in awe of her for some reason, even though none of them seemed to want to talk and she had no clue why. It wasn't like it was _that _bad, and to tell the truth it was probably her own fault, but… After long, long thought, she had come to one conclusion: her new classmates were weird. Definitely so.

She shrugged it off and went about her task.

* * *

Max stuck his hands in his pockets as he strolled up to the pink haired woman, who glanced up at him, then looked out over the athletics fields again.

"So, how's life been treating you, Makie?" he asked. He didn't know why, but for some reason he had always found the pink haired girl easy to get along with. Also, much to his mystification, she seemed to bring out his deeply buried silly side, albeit with some difficulty.

Makie winced slightly at the familiar use of her name, but shook her head and looked down at the path as she walked alongside the P.E. teacher. "Some…things happened, so I came back here to clear my head," she said, speaking volumes with the silence that followed.

"Negi missed you pretty bad when you left with what's his name…Kazu? Yeah, Kazu."

Makie didn't answer. Rather, she seemed to shrink in on herself at the mention of Kazuya's name.

Max frowned and glanced up at the sky as they walked. He hadn't been told all the details, but he _did _know that Makie's mom had arranged a marriage interview for Makie just before her high school graduation with a rich boy from her hometown. The two had seemed to get along okay at the time, but he distinctly remembered Makie's tear filled face when she looked at the boy during her graduation ceremony. Something about it hadn't seemed right to Max, but nobody else said anything, so he had chalked it up to the usual graduation depression most students went through. And of course, what with Makie being _Makie..._

Makie sniffled, and he realized she had her arms wrapped around herself.

"Tell you what…I've got a free hour; why don't we go get some coffee somewhere?" Max asked. Makie hesitated, but nodded after a moment.

"Can I get a parfait?" she asked quietly, causing Max to grin. 'Hah, same old Makie.'

* * *

As the two of them sat in the café, they talked and joked about old times and soon Makie seemed to turn back into her old, bubbly self, albeit tempered ever so slightly by her more experienced outlook on life.

"So, remember the look on Mana's face when she saw that frog just sitting there after all that effort?" Max asked, gesturing with a straw as Makie let out a light laugh. It had been a ridiculous situation, and one of the few times Mana had ever lost her cool. Truly ridiculous. And hilarious. Can't forget hilarious. He ignored the odd looks the two of them were getting from the workers and other patrons. He and Makie were about as different as two people could be, after all. He was roughly six and a half feet tall, while Makie had stopped growing at about five foot one. She was thin, he was built like a boxer; she had a quick smile, he had a quick glare; she was pretty, he was…not. Listening to her laughter was like listening to music, listening to his was like listening to a box of gravel. Well…it couldn't be all that bad; Jennifer, Akira, and his long-dead girlfriend Rikki had all seemed interested enough in him, so there must be _something_ to like, there, he thought.

"How is Akira doing?" Makie asked after a moment. The fact that she didn't ask about Max, Jennifer, and Akira sharing an apartment showed much more maturity than she had left this city with.

Max took another sip of coffee before he answered. "She's working in one of the shops in the city now, like Jennifer. She wants to come to the magic world with us when Negi goes this summer, so she's been training hard."

Makie nodded. She knew all about the training. She had wanted to take part herself, back in the day. 'Back in the day...?' she thought. 'Ugh, I feel so _old_.'

Max realized she was only poking at the parfait in front of her, and sighed. "So what, are you going to stay for a while?" The _real_ question was clear, however: Do you want to come with us?

Makie looked down at the tabletop until her bangs hid her eyes and nodded slightly.

"Are you sure about that?" Max asked. He didn't want to drag her along if she wasn't truly committed. Again, Makie nodded. "Okay then. You'll probably need a job and a place to stay…we'll talk to old man Konoe and see what we can find for you, okay?" he asked. He didn't say anything about the training she would need, and she didn't ask. The question of her fiancé was also avoided, though it hung in the air between them. She would tell him when she was ready, and that was that.

Makie wiped a few tears from her eyes as she murmured assent. Things had been bad for a while now but maybe, just maybe, she might be able to change.

* * *

Chisame snagged Nodoka's sleeve as she walked by, causing her to stumble.

"Nodoka." The blue haired girl turned and gave her a funny look.

"Yes, Chisame-san?"

"Where is Yue?" Chisame asked irritably. 'She should be here by now...!' she thought as she recalled the necessary conditions.

Nodoka looked away. "She stayed in Tibet, since there was too much work to do. She didn't feel comfortable-"

Chisame cut her off, cursing under her breath.

"Chisame-san?" Nodoka asked. The other girl wasn't looking very good...

"I'll be back later," Chisame said irritably as she set off at a fast pace for the nearest building.

* * *

Chisame ignored the startled look in the teacher's eyes as she pushed by him and ran into the men's bathroom. She quickly glanced around to make sure no one else was present, then rushed into one of the stalls and closed the door behind her as she made a mental note to thank the janitorial crew for keeping the men's bathroom so clean. "Come on Yue, you can't ruin this now," she grumbled as she took out the key that hung on a string around her neck. She inserted it into the sliding lock on the stall door, something that should have been utterly impossible, and turned it. There was a brief flash of light, and then the bathroom was empty again.

* * *

Yue sat at the desk in the darkness of the warehouse, staring blankly at the form she had been filling out as she thought about Nodoka and Negi, and the cave in.

Back in December, they had broken through into another hidden room in the ruins. It had been not unlike the others they had found up to this point; just another small storage room in the cave system, full of cracked pottery and large clay jugs whose contents had long since evaporated. What _had_ been different, however, were the extremely realistic human and animal statues situated around the entrance and walls. They were unusually realistic, not at all like the usual style found in the area. Nodoka had begun inspecting them while Yue and Negi looked through the broken pottery. Everything had been perfectly normal until a small tremor rocked the ruins.

Initially, no one had noticed any damage until the second tremor came fifteen seconds later. This one was harder, and a crack appeared in the roof of the chamber as Yue watched, hypnotized as it streaked overhead. There was the sound of stone scraping on stone, and then Negi shouted and Yue turned just in time to see him tackle Nodoka out of the chamber through the entrance they had made, out of the path of one of the larger stone animal statues, which had been broken loose by the tremor. It collapsed across the entrance and shattered, blocking it, and Yue was left alone in the dark with nothing but her lantern. Panic hadn't even had time to really set in yet when another, much larger earthquake struck maybe a minute later and the ceiling collapsed. Her lantern had been smashed, and she had been buried by tons of stone, unable to move, unable to see, barely able to breathe, with the image of Negi abandoning her to save Nodoka running through her mind.

The first few hours trapped in the rubble, while painful and awkward, hadn't been so bad after the initial moment of panic, not compared to what came later. One of the statues had somehow ended up with its head crammed next to hers and, since one of her arms had been near her head when she was pinned, she had been able to feel the shape of its face in the darkness. It had been absurdly comforting at the time, until she got the strange idea that the statue was really a person, and that _she_ was the one who was a statue.

Yue knew now, months after the incident, that logically she had just been feeling the effects of extreme thirst, hunger, and stress and panic at her situation; she knew that logically, the statue's face hadn't been frozen in an expression of terror at being turned into a statue. It was just a big chunk of stone, nothing more and nothing less. And yet...she couldn't forget the sheer horror of the situation, or how at one point she woke up in a run down hospital in a nearby village, a week after the incident; she couldn't forget how they told her about the way she was screaming breathlessly when they finally freed her, screaming something about being turned into a statue and getting broken into pieces.

Yue shook her head to clear it and tried to focus on the report she was filling out.

She knew it was ridiculous. No one could be turned into a statue. Magic petrification was similar, but it was reversible and just didn't work that way. Sure, could be hard to get _un_petrified, but it would be fine; you just had to find someone with the right skills. No one _died_ from it unless they got broken while petrified. She lapsed into another silence at that thought while her pen trailed across the paper and a left a line a few inches long on the tabletop. She barely even noticed the flash of light behind her.

"Yue! What are you still doing here? You have to go back to Mahora!"

She snapped back to herself and was surprised to find Chisame standing beside her. "Chisame-san? Where did you come from?"

Chisame just looked at her for a moment. "Never mind that now, we need to go back to Mahora. Come on," she said, grabbing Yue's wrist.

Yue, four foot eleven and ninety pounds on a good day, tugged back. "No! I can't leave the site now, there is too much work to do. I still have to catalog all this," she said, sweeping her hand back to indicate shelves and shelves of boxes. "And then there are the reports on air quality in the caves and—Hey!"

Chisame grabbed her wrist and pulled her to her feet. "I'm telling you, this can wait. You've got assistants, right?" She waited until Yue reluctantly nodded her head, then continued. "They can finish that. Right now, there are better places for you to be."

Yue finally worked her wrist free and allowed her logical mind to regain control. She took a deep breath, held it, let it out. Good. Better. Not great, but better. "Chisame-san, this work is simply too important to leave like this. While I am sure the assistants won't break anything, I doubt they can understand my filing system, or my cataloging system. There is simply too much risk of-"

Chisame listened to her rattle on for a moment or two and sighed. This had only happened a few times before, and every time it had happened there had only been one way to get her to go where she belonged.

"I'll show you Hodge's bar*," Chisame interrupted.

Yue froze mid-word and just gaped at the other woman for an instant. Chisame _never_ took anyone to Hodge's bar! Everyone knew about it of course, and most of them had begged to see it at one point or another, but none had ever had more than a glimpse.

"You'll only show me if I agree to come with you, correct?"

Chisame nodded.

Yue frowned as she thought it over, weighed the pros and cons, and reluctantly, oh so reluctantly, made her decision.

"Okay."

"Great," Chisame said without feeling as she took out the key again and stuck it into a nearby door. "Come on."

Yue grabbed a few important items, stuffed them into a backpack, and trotted across the room to where Chisame waited impatiently.

"Is this safe? Are you sure?" Yue asked as Chisame turned the doorknob.

Chisame looked back at her over her shoulder. "Would it stop you if it wasn't?" she asked.

Yue shook her head reluctantly and watched as Chisame opened the door to reveal the shady interior of what looked to be a fairly high class British pub, and realized there were other people in there. Strangely familiar music wafted out as Chisame stepped through the door and held it open for her, and she realized she had caught the other bar patrons' attention.

"Come on, I don't have all day," Chisame said with a tired, crooked smile.

Yue gulped, nodded, and hesitated at the entrance before stepping through onto the soft carpet by the entrance. She looked around and realized the others looked very familiar. The elegant looking woman at the bar even nodded at her...! She realized she was staring at the patrons and looked at the bartender.

"...Are you Hodge?" she asked tentatively.

The corners of Hodge's mouth darted up perhaps a millimeter as he nodded.

"Welcome back Miss Ayase. Would you like your usual?" he asked pleasantly as he placed a glass on the bar.

She looked from face to face, finally stopping on Chisame, who was grinning slightly, clearly amused, and finally realized the truth.

"I've been here before, haven't I?" Yue asked, nodding to herself even as she said it. The memories came flooding back quickly then and she went pale as she recalled the true reason behind this place.

"Oh my God..."

She whirled on Chisame, who she suddenly realized looked so, so tired.

"Did it work? No, you brought me here, so it couldn't have..."

Chisame just shook her head. "Come on, you know what needs to be done. We have to get back to Mahora."

Yue nodded, all traces of hesitation gone. There were bigger things than her feelings at stake here.

"And remember, when we go back, you'll forget you were ever here. So write down whatever you need to remember now," Chisame said.

Yue nodded as she took out a notebook and flipped through it until she found a blank page near the end. "Does anyone have a pencil?" she asked as she began patting her pockets.

* * *

Negi slogged through the halls after school, trying to locate one of his students, Urashima Taro. She had gotten into yet another argument earlier in the day during lunchtime, this time with an older girl; it looked like things might have gotten ugly until the class representative, Nakamura Sachiko, stepped in and somehow managed to defuse the situation.

It appeared Urashima Taro-san would be a real handful. The new school year was hardly a week old and she was already getting into fights with her seniors…! Negi sighed, his previous hopeful dreams for a normal class for once (_Why? Why do they always assign_ those _sorts of students to ME_?) already dashed. A group of girls passed by, giggling and making eyes at him, so he straightened up and tried to give them a stern look. It only resulted in more giggling, and he heaved another sigh. Not respected by his students, not respected by the citizens of Mahora, not respected by the staff…he heaved yet another sigh. 'I wish I had another year at the Tibet site,' he thought to himself as he headed to the shoe lockers. It had been fun, and everyone had paid attention to what he said there, too, even Noriyasu-san, who was leading the excavations. It was amazing, really; the site in Tibet featured an ancient transport gate of a previously unknown type. And furthermore, it was easily thousands and thousands of years old, much older than any previously known gate, not to mention much older than any previous ruins found…well…anywhere. The historical ramifications alone would be—there she was. Negi quickly dropped that line of thought and focused on attempting to lean on the wall in a nonchalant manner while surreptitiously keeping an eye on Taro-san, who was now putting on her regular shoes. It didn't work very well.

"Sensei, I have—"

"Gwah!"

"Er…huh?"

Negi calmly put his glasses back on and straightened his tie. "I am sorry, Cade-san, but you surprised me. Now, what did you need?"

Possum gave him an odd look. "Ooookay. Anyway, I had a question about something you said in class today."

"Okay…" Negi said as he glanced back toward Taro. Only, Taro was no longer there. He turned back to Possum. "I'm sorry, Cade-san…but…I…" She was gone as well. There was a conveniently open window nearby, so he looked out and just managed to catch a glimpse of the girl as she darted around the corner of the building.

Negi heaved a troubled sigh and took out the class roster as he began walking back the way he had come. He flicked it open with a practiced motion and pulled out a pen as he scanned over the roster, which already had a few notes written on it. "Let's see…" he said. "That should do it," he said as he finished writing. It might be seen as rude, but 'Thick as Thieves' described the two of them perfectly, from what he had seen thus far. It was something to think about.

"A penny for your thoughts?" a calm voice said beside him.

Negi mentally congratulated himself for not jumping in surprise this time around as he turned to look at the speaker. Nakamura Sachiko-san was the class representative, but that was the only thing she had in common with Yukihiro Ayaka, the class rep from his first class. She was much calmer than Yukihiro-san certainly; unfortunately, she didn't mingle with her classmates anywhere near the level the blonde always had. "Hello, Nakamura-san."

"Hello, Negi-sensei. Was the phrase correct?" she asked. Negi knew she had been studying English on her own, and she was certainly far more advanced in that regard than her classmates. Her pronunciation of 'l' and 'r' could use some work, however.

"It was fine. Your pronunciation is quite good, Nakamura-san," Negi said. "Anyway, I was trying to make sure Urashima-san would be okay. You know, after what happened earlier. I understand the older girl is quite the bully," he explained as he looked down at her. He had grown quite a bit since his first days in Mahora and was now almost six feet tall; Nakamura-san was at least six inches shorter.

Sachiko refused to meet his eyes and looked off to the side; an unusual thing for her to do. "You don't have to worry about Urashima-san," she said distantly.

"Hmm?"

"It's nothing," Sachiko said, moving aside to make room as another group of students passed.

* * *

Kagami's face turned red in spite of her best efforts to appear nonchalant when she spotted Negi-sensei speaking with the class rep. Embarrassed, she ducked into an unoccupied classroom before either one could see her, and almost immediately began to wonder why she had done it. It wasn't as if she had a crush on her teacher. Certainly not. Never that. It was more a sense of…shame, for staring at the scar on his cheek. Yes. Shame. Because of the scar. But not how it made him look manly and rugged or accentuated the way his eyes lit up when he was excited about something, or—

Kagami slapped her cheeks and took a deep breath. "It's the horribly disfiguring scar," she said after a moment, cutting off the thoughts that had begun to develop. With a monumental effort of will, she forced herself to change her train of thought and consider the information she had gotten earlier today, quite by accident.

At lunch time, she had spotted a poster on the wall advertising a 'Battle of the Bands' contest to be held in a little over a month; and on that poster was a picture of last year's winners, a band called 'Dekopin Rocket', or something like that. But that wasn't important. What was important, in Kagami's mind, had been the laughing woman on the left side of the poster in the picture of the band. She had seen that face before and would never forget it. Six years ago, she had seen that woman, then a girl in her mid teens, put life into a little playdoh cat; a cat which was, without a doubt, now her most treasured possession. Even more treasured than her mother's jewelry.

Upon asking a few questions, she had learned that the girl had attended school here a few years back, and furthermore that her name was Kakizaki Misa. Kagami had been trying to figure out how to get Kakizaki-sama's phone number when she had spotted Negi-sensei and the class rep. Now, trembling alternately in anticipation of meeting her hero and in fear of humiliating herself in front of her (admittedly hot) teacher, she paced back and forth in the empty classroom until a large group of students walked past. She ducked into the crowd as they went past Negi-sensei and waited until she was around the corner before she took off at a run. She rounded another corner and bumped into a pink-haired woman walking with Scary Max-sensei. She muttered a quick apology and finally made it to the exit and out the door.

* * *

Makie and Max looked at each other a moment, startled as the student rushed by. "Don't worry about it," Max finally said as he started walking again. Makie had to run a few steps herself to catch up. "Anyway, I'm sure old man Konoe can find a place for you."

Makie rather hoped the old man could. She couldn't go back now, not after what she had said to her fiancé. Or, rather, ex-fiancé, she supposed.

They toured the various school buildings for the next hour to kill time until Makie's appointment with the headmaster. Several of the teachers recognized Makie, and she returned their greetings a bit shyly, not really knowing how else to respond. Overall, it was nice and relaxing. A way to 'revisit her youth', so to speak. Max couldn't help but notice her occasional sighs, however.

"Is something wrong, Makie?" he asked.

"No," Makie replied. "Not really. I just feel sorta nostalgic, I guess," she said. She paused for a moment as they passed a window overlooking the athletics fields, where several sports clubs were practicing. Currently, a single laughing girl was being chased by well over a dozen others, until she tripped and fell and the others dogpiled her.

"'Was I ever that young?' Or is it more like 'I'm too young to feel this old'?" Max asked.

"A little of both, I guess," Makie said. Honestly, _had_ she ever been that young? If so, she couldn't remember now. Things had gotten bad in the past year; sometimes she didn't even have the strength to get up in the morning. If it hadn't been for Kazu…she shook the thought off. That mess was over, finished. She was here, now, in Mahora. She could start over, no matter what her mother said. She jumped when Max laid a hand on her shoulder.

"It doesn't suit you," he said seriously as he looked away.

"What?"

"Come on, it's time for your appointment," he said as he lead her toward the headmaster's office.

* * *

The room was enormous, dwarfing the headmaster as he sat behind his desk.

The old man was jovial as usual, greeting Max and Makie as if they were beloved grandchildren come for a visit. "Ohoho, welcome Max-kun, Makie-chan. Make yourself comfortable, yes," he said, gesturing toward the two chairs across the desk from him. "You too, Max-kun," he added as Max headed for the door. He ignored the confused look on the teacher's face and the look the two of them shot each other. He waited until both of them were seated, then stood and walked over to the big window behind his desk and turned away from his guests as he looked out, hands clasped behind his back.

"I understand how things are," he began. "Times change and old faces move on to be replaced by new, which move on and are replaced in turn. Yet from time to time, an old face returns." He turned to face them. "You know they say that if one who has left comes back to this place, she will never truly leave again. This school, this city, has a hold on all who come here. For some, this hold is stronger than for others." He sat down heavily in his chair and looked again at the two sitting before him. "So tell me, how can I help you?"

Makie and Max looked at each other, and Max motioned for her to go ahead and speak.

Makie steeled herself and tried to meet the headmaster's eyes, though she could only manage to meet his kindly gaze for a few seconds at most. Her throat tightened as she began to speak. "I…I…I need…"

"Go on," old Konoe urged.

Makie sniffled, tried and failed to hold back a hitching breath, and broke down, pouring out everything that had happened since graduation. Her fiancé's mental problems, her own self doubt, extreme stress building into a shouting match that culminated in a slap and another slap in return. Words said in anger and bags packed, realizations, shouted threats and a thrown wine bottle, and here she was.

Max passed her a box of tissues from the headmaster's desk halfway through, his expression becoming tighter and grimmer as the story continued. Like most teachers, the students from his first year on the job had the greatest impact on him personally; Old Man Konoe shot him a warning look, however, so he kept his mouth shut as Makie went on and on.

When she finally finished, Konoe sat back in his chair, shut his eyes, and stroked his beard as he thought for a moment. "Hmm…I understand. You will be the new assistant coach to Max-kun, here." He paused for a moment to let that sink in as the two looked at each other, wide eyed, then continued. "I will arrange for a room for you in the teachers' dorm, unless you have something else planned…?"

Makie shook her head, looking a bit shellshocked.

"Very well. See that you complete this paperwork in a timely manner. Go on now, I have another appointment after this," he said, waving them away.

* * *

Once out in the hallway, Makie and Max simply stood there for a moment.

"I…didn't expect something like that," Max said after a moment. "That's the same way he got me."

Makie nodded dumbly, her expression not unlike that of a deer staring down an oncoming eighteen wheeler. "What…what do I do? I can't be a teacher...!"

* * *

_*For Hodge's Bar, see Still Waters 2 on this site._

_**Author Notes:** And Makie is back, and we find out who that boy at the graduation ceremony was. Also, we get to know some of the students better. Also also, here are some more character profiles. Enjoy._

* * *

Max Linell - Scary P.E. Teacher

Born - 4/12/1977

Height - 6'6"

Likes: Fighting, weapons, travel

Dislikes: Idleness, sitting around the house

Roommates: Shares a rented place with Jennifer Minindry and Okouchi Akira

Little Known Facts: Is cursed with a desire to pet small fuzzy animals

* * *

Possum Cade - Student number 15

Born - 11/29/1994

Height - 5'4"

Kickboxing Club

Likes: People, forests

Dislikes: Being alone, Japanese food (except pocky)

Roommate: Kara Stride

Little Known Facts: Has amazing balance, and is very good at throwing small objects.

* * *

Nakamura Sachiko - Student number 24

Born - 7/17/1994

Height - 5'5"

Tea Ceremony Club

Likes: Tea cups, training, watching baseball

Dislikes: Distance between people

Roommate: Sato Gin

Little Known Facts: She is driven to gain as many skills as she can


	6. Ch 4 New Beginnings pt 4

**Still waters 3, Chapter 4, New Beginnings, Part 4**

* * *

_It's Only Teenage Wasteland_

_

* * *

_

_Tuesday, April 14th, 2009_

_Mahora_

* * *

Sasaki Rina had been having a good day. Her super cute homeroom teacher had smiled at her—at _her_! ~swoon~ —and, miracle of miracles, she had somehow managed to ace a pop quiz in math and almost, _almost_, managed to beat Suzuki Keiko's score; quite an achievement, if she said so herself. But, when it came time for P.E. and Scary Max-Sensei had announced that they had a new assistant P.E. teacher, Rina hadn't expected the rest of her school life to be ruined forever and ever today, so she was understandably shocked and dismayed to see the new assistant.

"Rin-rin~"

Rina grumbled something under her breath. Great. It just _had_ to be her. And today had been going so well, too… And, when Makie called out to her again and waved happily, Rina felt as though she could have sunken right into the ground and thanked it for the favor, humiliated as she was with all her classmates looking at her like she had just grown a second head.

"Rina-chan~"

Rina barely repressed a shudder of revulsion and sent her best death glare at her older sister in an attempt to get her to just shut up. Honestly…the idiot just couldn't take a hint unless it was applied with a sledgehammer. Luckily, Scary Max-sensei soon set them all running laps while the losers of the dodgeball game from the other day went to work cleaning the swimming pool.

By her second trip around the track Rina had slowed considerably and by her fifth lap, she was moving at a sedate walk.

"Hey Rina, come here for a minute!"

She clenched her teeth at Scary Max-sensei's overly familiar use of her name, but did as he asked anyway, excusing herself from the conversation she was having with her classmate Keiko-san. Honestly, the teachers at this school… "Yes, Max-sensei?"

"Makie here tells me you're her sister," Scary Max-sensei began, gesturing to the failure, who nodded emphatically.

"Yes sensei," Rina said. Where was he going with this?

She watched as Scary Max-sensei looked back and forth between the two of them for a moment. He suddenly seemed to realize something. 'Good, maybe he'll get a clue and let me go back now,' Rina thought.

Scary Max-sensei grinned in his usual ugly manner and Rina twisted her mouth in distaste. "Here, I'll leave you two alone. Sit down over there and have a nice, long, comfortable talk. I'll be back later," he said, then trotted off across the athletics field to flush out the group of girls standing behind one of the storage sheds.

"So…" Rina said as she looked at her older sister.

"Yes?" Makie asked, looking back at her cute little sister with big, shiny, hope-filled eyes of familial love.

"I hate you."

Makie deflated. "That's so mean, Rina-chan!" Sure, she knew her mother was disappointed in her, but to have her own cute little sister say such a thing…!

"Do you know what it's been like back home since you started fighting with Kazuya-san? Mother is furious at you, and she's been taking it out on _me_! Why couldn't you just suck it up like a good little housewife? Instead you had to ruin my life! It's just like when you lost your last competition because you _choked_!"

* * *

The sound of a slap echoed across the athletics fields, drawing several stares. Makie stood there, hands clenched into fists at her sides. That…! How could Rina say such a thing! She looked down at little Rina-chan, though the height difference was barely an inch, and the girl seemed a child again. Rina hesitantly raised a hand to her still-stinging cheek as her eyes watered up. Makie's hand stung from the force of the slap, but she clenched her teeth and ignored the pain.

"You hit me…You hit me! How dare you—" Rina began.

"How dare _you_!" Makie practically shouted before cutting herself off and lowering her voice. That bit about the final gymnastics competition she had participated in had _hurt_, not to mention all that stuff about Kazu and ruining Rina-chan's life. "How could you say that? And how dare you judge me when you don't know the situation? Kazu…Kazu is horrible! I should never have let mother push me into that engagement. I had to quit gymnastics because of him! Do you know how much that hurt?" she whispered furiously.

Rina stood there dumbstruck, doing her best to withstand the barrage, gritting her teeth hard in an effort to keep from crying. The Failure had hit her…Makie had hit her. She realized her sister was still ranting.

"—and his mother, she was even worse! Following after me, talking about how I messed up everything I touched and how I just wasn't good enough for Kazu, saying that maybe she should have chosen that nice Mai girl who was so docile and well trained? Do you know what it's like to constantly be compared to someone else, all the time? Do you?" she asked through clenched teeth.

The tears did come then. "You idiot!" Rina said, her voice cracking as she buried a weak fist in Makie's stomach. "I hate you! You're a horrible big sister! Mother always says 'Why don't you watch those old videos of Makie-chan, maybe you'll learn something?' 'Makie-chan already won three junior championships by the time she was your age'!"

'Why can't you be more like Makie-chan?' Rina didn't say.

"Don't talk to me about being compared, idiot!" Rina shouted. She took off toward the school as fast as she could go, pink ponytail bobbing wildly as she ran.

Makie sighed as she watched her little sister go. She hadn't known…how could mother treat Rina-chan that way? Oh, the things she had said to Rina…! She really _was _a horrible big sister...

Makie jumped when Max laid a hand on her shoulder. "It's okay Makie. Here, take this. You can be the sword bearer I guess," he said, offering up the (in)famous wooden sword he often carried during P.E. She had always wanted to get her hands on it back when she was still a student. Makie made an awkward grin as she accepted the sword, and glanced back toward where she had last seen Rina-chan. The girl was nowhere in sight. She sighed heavily.

"Well, I'm pretty sure she hates me now," Makie said wearily as she gave the wooden sword a few experimental swings. She really hadn't known things had become that bad back home. If she had realized…

"Yeah…well…" Max said as he tried to think of some way to reassure her.

Makie turned a measuring gaze on Max. "Hey, isn't this where you're supposed to offer some advice or something?"

Max raised his hands defensively. "Me? I didn't understand teenage girls then, and I understand them even less now. You're on your own, there."

Makie grinned weakly and settled the wooden sword on her shoulder. Well, since she had The Symbol Of P.E. Teacher Authority, a.k.a. Max's wooden sword, she might as well make use of it. She turned to the students lazily walking around the track. "Come on, I wanna see you run! Put some energy into it!"

* * *

Kagami stood up straight and stretched, bending backward a little. She stared up at the sky for a moment. 'It could have been worse,' she thought. She could have been stuck with that whiny brat Sasaki Rina or genius-girl Keiko or someone worse instead of her roommate Endo Haru.

"Whatcha thinking, Kagami-chan?" Speak of the devil.

"Nothing," Kagami mumbled as she bent back over her scrub brush and got back to work. At least Endo knew when to take a hint and shut up; that was a lot more than she could say for the rest of the class. Mostly. Some of them were too quiet though, like that creepy Ono Ran or that tall girl Takahashi Shizuko, who just sat in her chair all day looking out the window; quite a feat since she sat on the opposite side of the classroom from the windows. But, in any case, lately things had finally begun to settle into a state of semi-insanity. The first few days, if not the whole first week, had been complete chaos as the students learned the campus and the hundreds (if not thousands!) of clubs competed for new members. She had almost been forcibly conscripted into weird clubs several times until she finally joined the cooking club, just to get away from the others. While she wasn't a very good cook, what she could do was…passable. When her parents had died and she was left with no one but her older brother, she had had to do _something_, so she had taught herself to cook. The two of them would have eaten nothing but cup ramen if it was up to Hiro-nii, so she had been forced to put her foot down. The others, Akihiko-kun, Hideki-kun, and Sousuke-san, had thought it was hilarious at the time.

Kagami's expression softened a bit as she thought about them. She hadn't seen any of them in well over a year now, not since Hiro-nii had sent her here 'for her own protection'. Hideki-kun, Akihiko-kun, poor Sousuke-san with his scarred throat…Sousuke-san couldn't speak because of a wound he had taken years before in a streetfight; it had messed up his throat somehow and there was nothing anyone could do about it. There were other people of course, but those were the ones she was closest too. They might as well be doting brothers and uncles.

She straightened up from the scrub brush again and stood there, catching her breath as she thought. At least the other members of the cooking club seemed like decent people. That shy girl, her classmate Yoshida Ume, was in the club as well and had so far seemed nice enough, if a bit too quiet. They had gravitated toward each other as familiar faces, even if they almost never spoke with each other outside of the club. The rest of the club members were the usual mishmash that made up the majority of the student body here. The faces sort of blended together after a while, and she didn't think she would even recognize the club president if she were to meet her on the street.

"Hey, quit staring into space, Kagami-chan," Endo said as she clapped a hand on Kagami's shoulder. "P.E.'s over, let's go clean up."

Kagami climbed up out of the pool with the others and put up her brush, glancing over at Max-sensei as she did. She made a face and turned away. Of course, trust an American to go flirting with the assistant P.E. teacher at the first opportunity. She looked back a moment later and cocked her head to the side. Well, to be honest, it was probably more like he was showing the woman around, since he seemed to be pointing things out as he spoke, and there was a fair distance between the two of them…whatever. She decided she didn't care.

She headed for the showers, hardly noticing Endo, who strolled along beside her.

Today, she had decided, would be the day she would call the woman from Dekopin Rocket. Her hero, the so-called 'Magical Girl Misa', as she recalled the girl's introduction from six years before, when she received the playdoh cat.

"It'll be today, Endo," she said aloud.

Endo Haru glanced at her and shook her head. Her roommate Kagami was just weird.

* * *

Rina stomped through the deserted halls on the top floor of the building after school, looking to meet up with her friend. She had run into the girl in the beginning of her first year in the middle school, and she had always been good to talk to whenever Rina had a problem. And boy, did she ever have a problem now…! Stupid Makie!

"Stupid stupid stupid!" Rina grumbled as she went. A few late students circled away from her, but she didn't even notice as she threw open the door to the roof and went up the stairs. She whipped open the door at the top and stalked out onto the rooftop and looked around sulkily. There! Her friend was seated on one of the low benches the faculty had placed up on the roof years ago when they had finally realized students were going to go up there no matter what they did to stop them. She didn't know what year the girl was, she just sort of assumed they were in the same grade; she looked about the right age.

"Hey, Chisame!" Rina called out as she trotted up to the other girl.

"Hello, Rina," the girl replied as she adjusted her glasses and looked back down at her laptop.

Rina plopped down beside her, and Chisame reached into her bag and took out a drink box, which she passed to her.

"Thanks," Rina said, her mood already lightening as she poked the straw into the box and took a sip.

"You're welcome," Chisame replied absently as she continued typing on her computer, now facing toward Rina so her screen wasn't visible to the pink haired girl. She continued typing for a moment, checked some spreadsheets and a database, and nodded. She turned her attention to Rina again.

"So, what did you need?"

Rina's newfound good mood soured instantly. "You won't believe it!"

Chisame grinned distantly. "Try me."

"You know that scary idiot P.E. teacher Max-sensei, right?" Rina asked heatedly.

Chisame nodded, the corner of her mouth twitching upward at the girl's description of the teacher.

"My stupid big sis Makie is his new assistant P.E. teacher! Isn't that terrible?" Rina declared.

"Poor Makie…" Chisame said under her breath. "Oh? Wouldn't it be nice to have your sister there?" she asked Rina.

"What? She's an idiot!" Rina said, crossing her arms and pouting as she looked away.

"Oh? I'm sure she doesn't think the same about you. You're probably her favorite sister," Chisame said as she glanced back at the spreadsheet on her computer screen again and nodded to herself. "She used to buy you ice cream all the time, right?"

Rina was at a loss for words, a rare and miraculous thing, but it only lasted an instant. "Th-that doesn't matter! Besides, I'm her _only_ sister!"

Chisame smiled absently as she typed something into the computer. "Doesn't make it any less true."

Rina continued pouting and remained silent.

"I've got some taiyaki, want half?" Chisame said as she took a small wrapped bundle from her bag.

"Yeah!" Rina said excitedly, her anger at Makie completely forgotten for the moment at the promise of her favorite food.

"Okay," Chisame said as she unwrapped the fish pastry and carefully broke it in half at an angle from the top fin to the bottom fin and handed the head part to Rina.

"Thanks!" Rina said as she took a big bite, accidentally smearing some of the filling on her cheek. She didn't notice.

Chisame checked her spreadsheet again and dabbed at the spot with a napkin. "Ah, you're so clumsy Rina-chan," she said, surreptitiously checking the notes she had made as she echoed the words Makie had said hundreds of times before in her younger days.

"Hehe~" Rina said as she continued stuffing her face, not even noticing the exchange as she ate.

Chisame grinned slightly as she checked the spreadsheet one final time. Sure enough, it was correct. She let out a relieved sigh. It was a good thing she had started taking notes on these things; it was a lot easier than blundering her way through like she had at first.

"What are you looking at?" Rina asked between bites. Chisame always had that laptop with her, but never showed her what it was she was always doing with it...

"Nothing, just homework," Chisame said as she closed her laptop and set it aside. She took up the back half of the taiyaki, broken just the way Makie used to do when she shared them with Rina years ago, and took a bite. Things would settle down for a while after this, but as long as Rina realized just how important her big sister should be to her at the end, events would play out for the best and that particular part of everything would be all right.

* * *

When the cooking club meeting was finally over after school, Kagami made her tired way back to the dorm. School was really starting to kick in, and she was exhausted. She trudged up the stairs and went into the room she shared with Endo Haru, who had still not returned. That was good; she could relax for a while before she made that phone call she had been looking forward to and dreading so much.

Kagami dropped her bag on the floor and let the little playdoh cat out to play. She plopped down on the bed to watch it scamper around the floor, and pulled out her personal CD player and a Dekopin Rocket CD she had borrowed from her classmate Abe-san. She laid back on her bunk and looked at the bottom of Endo's bunk above as the music started. A fast paced rock song…"It's nice," she said aloud, followed by a yawn. It had really been a long day. 'I'll just lay here for a while. It'll be ok,' she thought to herself as the cat jumped up on the bed and curled up on her chest and started to purr. She stroked its little playdoh head with her thumb and smiled a bit as she listened to the music. So, this was Misa-sama's musical style... Her brother had always liked rock music. Wherever they went, from Tokyo to Kyoto to Nagano, there was always a radio in the background playing some form of rock music. He had always liked Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin the best, she recalled as she yawned again. It certainly wasn't bad, but she just wished he would listen to more Japanese stuff, so she could at least understand the words. She yawned for a third time as her mind started to drift. She had a brief urge to get up and lock the door lest someone open it and the cat escape, but couldn't bring herself to do anything about it. She closed her eyes and started to drift.

* * *

"Kagami! Kagami, wake up!

Her eyes snapped open as someone shook her awake, and she realized with dread that the familiar weight of the cat sleeping on her chest was gone. "What? What happened?" she asked groggily as she took off the headphones and turned off the CD player.

"It's the cat! It got out when I opened the door! I tried to catch it, but I wasn't—"

Kagami was up in a flash, almost knocking over Endo as she got out of her bed. A quick glance through the window showed long shadows on the ground. It was getting late, then. Panic welled up, but she forced it back down. She couldn't panic now; if she panicked at this point, the cat would be gone forever, and she didn't think she could take such a thing.

"Kagami-chan, I'm so sorry, I'll help you find it—"

"You bet you'll help me find it," Kagami growled at the other girl as she clamped her hand down on Endo's wrist. "Where did it go?"

"It ran toward the stairs, I couldn't keep up," Endo replied.

Kagami dragged her out into the hallway. "Come on!" she said as she let go of Endo's wrist and started running. She slowed her paced only to go down the stairs, which she took two or three at a time, almost falling when she reached the bottom of the first flight and started down the next. A cry of "Eek! A mouse!" reached her ears and she sped up, ignoring Endo's warning shout of "You're gonna fall!"

When she reached the ground floor, Kagami grabbed a pale girl who stood at the foot of the stairs. "Where is it? Which way did it go?" she demanded. The girl pointed a shaky finger toward the front door, so Kagami went.

Outside, she followed the sounds of the occasional shriek or yell straight into the city with Endo following right behind, wailing out how sorry she was. Kagami could only grit her teeth and go on.

* * *

"So Makie, how was your first day as an assistant P.E. teacher?" Max asked as he walked her to the front of the teacher's dorm.

"It was nice," the girl said distractedly. She had been feeling down since her fight with her sister, and hadn't quite recovered yet.

"Just give it some time," Max said. He was fully aware of her problem, and knew that he was mostly responsible for the most recent part of it. Well, it hadn't been the first time he'd screwed up, and it wouldn't be the last. "Nothing's ever easy, especially if it should be," he said, then heaved a long-suffering sigh.

Makie barked a short laugh at that, and smiled a little. She was always amused at his moments of 'wisdom'.

"See now? That's better. You're just not Makie without a smile on your face," the older man said, drawing a bigger smile from the girl in spite of herself.

Max opened one of the doors of the teachers' dorm for Makie and held it open as she stepped inside. "You've got it from here, right?" he asked rhetorically as he stepped inside after her.

Makie nodded. "I'm okay, don't worry," she said, looking up at him. Now that she had gotten older, the big American held less of a sense of mystery for her, but…it was still there, nevertheless. Sure, they had all had adventures together even up to their graduation, her and Yuuna and Ako and Akira. And wherever Akira went, Max-sensei and Jennifer-san were sure to be nearby. Speaking of that, Asuna and Negi-kun had always been around as well, and sometimes the others too. Iincho and Ku Fei and Mana and even Madoka and Misa and Sakurako. It had been great fun; it was a miracle they had all found enough time to study for tests and attend class regularly, what with all the magical emergencies that had popped up during their high school years. They had all grown close, and then she had left to be with Kazu. Ugh, _that_ had been a disaster. Asuna had left to go to Kyoto, and then the rest had scattered all at once and she had fallen out of contact with everyone. It was shameful.

"…what?" Max asked. Makie realized she had been staring through Max's head and out into space, and mumbled an apology. "Don't worry about it," Max said. "So if that's everything, I'll be going now…"

"Yeah, that's it," Makie said. She waved absently as Max turned back to the door and paused. "Um…Max-sensei?" she asked, but he just stood there with his back to her, facing the doorway.

"Hello, Asuna," Max said after a moment.

"Asuna? Asuna's here?" Makie asked excitedly as she moved around him to see. "Asuna!"

* * *

Asuna had been going along happily, swinging a bag of groceries from the local convenience store with her mind a million miles away, and hadn't expected to run into anyone she knew. So it was with great shock that she opened the door to the teachers' dorms and ran smack into Max, who reached out and steadied her as she reeled back, off balance.

Wait, _Max_! Oh, crap.

"Hello, Asuna."

Asuna just gaped at him for a moment. She had gotten quite close with her big American friend before fleeing to Kyoto…he was probably mad that she had just up and left the way she had.

"Asuna? Asuna's here?" a feminine voice asked excitedly from behind him. "Asuna!"

"Eh…hi!" Asuna said in an awkward attempt at a lighthearted greeting as Makie stepped around Max. Wait…Makie? "Makie!"

Max watched impassively as Makie tackle-hugged Asuna, who barely managed to remain upright.

"Asuna! Where have you been? We all missed you so much after you left! How have you been? Are you okay now? What was it like? Did you have fun?"

"Makie! I haven't seen you in so long, how are you? Why are you here in the teachers' dorm? Your hair's so long now! Do you have a younger sister? I thought I saw a girl the other day that looked just like you!"

Max waited for the two of them to stop and catch their breath before he spoke. "Hello, Asuna."

Asuna looked up at him sheepishly. She hadn't told him about her plans before she left for Kyoto, and it wouldn't be a surprise at all if he was mad at her…he wouldn't be the only one. "Well…y'see…I'm sorry about—wah!" She was cut off as he swept her up in a hug while Makie beamed at her. She struggled for a moment, then gave it up and wrapped an arm around his neck. He released her an instant later and she found herself looking at two grinning idiots who were happy to see her, and she couldn't help but grin like an idiot too. "Sorry I left like that," she said after a moment.

"Just give us a little warning next time. Do you know how long it took me to find a decent sparring partner after you left?" Max asked, his attempt at playfulness awkward at she hadn't known him as long as she had, she might have thought he was angry.

"Heheh…sorry."

"We need to celebrate!" Makie said suddenly.

"Celebrate…?" Asuna asked. She picked up the bag of groceries from the spot where it had been dropped a moment earlier.

"Yes! We have to celebrate your return! Hmm…who should we call? Who's in town?"

"Wait, wait!" Asuna said, raising her hands defensively.

"Akira and Jennifer will want to come," Max said thoughtfully.

Makie nodded. "And Negi-kun of course."

"Of course."

"Wait! Listen to me!" Asuna demanded.

"Where should we go, though? I don't know many places—"

"I know the perfect place!" Makie declared. "I _think_ it's still there, anyway."

"Argh, you people—!"

"You probably want to keep it small, right?" Max asked, suddenly looking down at Asuna.

Asuna sighed and gave up. "…yeah, if you guys _insist_…"

"We insist, we insist!" Makie said, grabbing Asuna's arm. "Come on, this'll be _fun_!"

* * *

Endo Haru watched helplessly as her roommate Kagami stumbled over to a nearby bench and collapsed gracelessly on it.

"I'm so sorry, Kagami-chan," Haru said after a moment.

"Shut up," Kagami snapped. Haru went quiet. Kagami heaved a sigh and wiped some of the moisture from her eyes. She had had that little red, blue, and yellow cat for _years_ now; and, even though she had never really given it a real name, it was as much a member of her family as her big brother.

It was dark now, long past sunset, and they would no doubt get in trouble with the dorm mother for being out so late. It had been sort of neat, watching the city light up, but thoughts of her precious, precious little playdoh cat were foremost in Kagami's mind.

Kagami heaved another heavy sigh and stood up.

"Kagami? What are you—"

"I'm going to look some more," Kagami interrupted. She had a dead, hopeless look in her eyes that Haru didn't like. "He may have gone that way," she said, pointing in a random direction. She started walking, and Haru had no choice but to follow her. If something happened to Kagami-chan, she wouldn't be able to forgive herself…!

They walked for another ten or fifteen minutes, idly glancing into trash cans and alleys and under benches, but there was no sign of the cat anywhere.

They went on and on, into a section of town neither girl had ever been to before. The area took on a grimy appearance, there were lots of neon signs and suspicious people loitering around, and, from somewhere ahead, a live band could be heard playing in one of the bars. Haru grabbed Kagami's hand almost without realizing she had done it. This was…this was _the bad part of town_…! Her parents had always warned her about places like this. Someone could pull them into an alley and rob them! Or worse…_do that thing her parents always warned about but never named!_ Haru shuddered as her mind went into overdrive with all sorts of obscene thoughts.

Haru almost screamed when a bald salaryman reeking of booze stumbled up to them and tried to lay a hand on Kagami's shoulder, but Kagami sidestepped at the last moment, pushing Haru aside, and the man tripped and fell hard on the ground, muttering incoherently while a group of women with oddly colored hair and clothing full of strategically placed holes laughed raucously on the other side of the street. They kept walking; Haru looked back just in time to see one of the women take the man's wallet from his back pocket and thumb through it. She quickly looked away.

They continued on, Haru steadfastly refusing to meet the measuring glances and lustful stares from the denizens of this place. She was in the process of making sure her uniform skirt was covering every square inch possible when Kagami suddenly stopped.

"Kagami-chan?" Haru asked, as she glanced at the building Kagami had stopped in front of. It was a bar called The Freezer; and, apparently, was also the source of the music they had been hearing.

* * *

Kagami recognized the song, of course; she had been listening to it earlier, before she fell asleep. It was one of Dekopin Rocket's originals; maybe they were…? She glanced at the big man standing by the door, not really seeing him, and went closer. Maybe…

The man stepped in front of her, blocking her way. Kagami glared up at him. And up, and up, and up. He was at least as tall as Scary Max-sensei! And obviously worked out. A lot. She felt Haru pulling on her arm, urging her to get away, but…she glanced through the door when someone opened it, and got a quick view of the stage. She spotted four figures on it, but couldn't make out any details from her current position. She took a step closer and craned her neck to see over the crowd, but the big man put a careful but firm hand on her shoulder and pushed her back a little.

"You're too young, little girl. Go on home, I'm sure someone's worried about you."

"He's right, you can't go in there Kagami-chan. Come on, let's go back to the dorm. We'll get in trouble if we're out any longer."

Kagami got another look at the band when someone opened the door again, but it was smoky and dimly lit inside the bar, so she couldn't see much. "What band is that?" she asked, looking back up at the man.

He raised an eyebrow at that. "They're a local band called Dekopin Rocket, they play here every Tuesday and Saturday. The crowd loves em," he added after a moment, a grin showing that he concurred.

Kagami stood there for a moment, listening to the music. It was definitely the first song she had listened to on the CD she had borrowed. Only, it sounded different, played live. More, well, _lively_, she supposed. More energetic.

"Look," the man said after a moment. "I guess I can let you two in to listen if you stand backstage and don't let anyone see you. Don't tell anyone I did this, okay?" he asked.

Kagami, not trusting her voice in her excitement, nodded emphatically as the bouncer waved another guy over.

"Watch the door, I'll be right back." He turned to the girls. "Come on, follow me." Haru had a sudden vision of something so horrible, something so unspeakable, something so _humiliating _that she almost fainted when Kagami immediately followed the big man into the dark, trash-filled alley—okay, so it was fairly well lit and looked like it had even been swept recently—that she grabbed Kagami's hand again and pulled her back. "Wait! You don't think he's going to…going to…" she shuddered. "…going to make us eat gross stuff, do you?"

Kagami just blinked. "…what?"

Haru grinned awkwardly. "You know. Like my parents always warned me about. Uh...I guess natto or something?"

"…no, not really. Besides, I don't think it works that way. Why would he make you eat natto anyway? What purpose would it serve? Honestly Endo, sometimes I wonder about you."

"Oh…" said the girl whose friend was about to stroll carefee into an alley in the bad part of town with a total stranger she had known all of ten seconds.

"So, if you don't mind letting go of my hand…?" Kagami said, every word dripping with sarcasm.

"Er…right. Yeah. Sorry Kagami-chan," Haru said as she let go of Kagami's hand.

"Thank you. Now are you coming with me or what?"

"I guess," Haru said after carefully weighing the alternatives. Follow some big scary guy into an alley with Kagami-chan, or stand out in the street in her school uniform alone, trying not to look at the passersby? She followed the big scary guy into the alley.

He led Kagami and Haru around the side of the building to a back entrance, waved to another man standing nearby, and led them inside and through a couple rooms that seemed to be used for storage. He led them down a short hall to a door marked "Stage This Way", unlocked the door, and went inside. Kagami and Haru followed.

Inside, the room was quite large and contained quite a bit of…stuff. Chairs, tables, empty crates and beer kegs. Other than that, it was quite clean, not at all what Haru had expected. There were a couple doors in the wall to the left labeled "Band Only", but Haru and Kagami only had eyes for the door directly in front of them marked "Stage".

"Hang on a sec," the man said as he flicked off the light. Haru jumped and grabbed Kagami's hand again, and then the 'Stage' door opened a little, and she realized she was looking out at the band. One of them, the bassist, glanced over at them but quickly turned her attention back to her instrument.

"That's…really cool," Haru said in spite of herself as she watched them play. She had always liked music, but hadn't ever been very good at playing any instruments. She had tried, of course, but the results had always been less than spectacular.

"The owner offered to make them the house band, but they refused," the man said after watching them play for a moment.

"Why?" Haru asked when it looked like Kagami wouldn't say anything.

"I don't know, they didn't say. Anyway, I've got to go. Stay quiet and don't bother 'em." The big man left, and Kagami and Haru found themselves alone in the darkened room.

"I always wanted to play like that," Haru said after a moment as she watched the bassist, who was currently in the process of playing a surprisingly intricate solo while the small crowd roared.

They could clearly hear shouts of "I love you Ako-chan!" and "Ako-chan, marry me!" It was all rather surreal; Haru had seen recordings of similar scenes before, but they hadn't presented this sort of…of…energy.

"She's really cool, isn't she?" Haru said. She turned to Kagami to get her response, but the other girl apparently hadn't been listening. At that moment the rest of the band came back in right on cue and Haru's jaw dropped at the sheer _power_ of it all. This was… this was…!

* * *

Eventually, the last encore ended and the band said their goodbyes to the crowd and headed for the darkened room where Kagami and Haru were watching.

"Um…is this really okay? I mean, I don't think we're supposed to be here…" Haru said as she backed away from the door. The short haired guitarist was almost there, so she grabbed Kagami's arm and pulled her away from the door and out of the way just in time for Madoka to push the door open and step inside.

The woman flipped the lights on and gave the two students an odd look, then stepped aside to allow the others to enter. Sakurako was the next one in; she just smiled at Kagami and Haru and made her way to the coke machine. Ako was next; she grinned a little nervously and hovered around Sakurako. Finally, Misa came in last, practically bubbling with excitement.

"Oh man that was _great_! That's the best show we've done all year!" Misa said as she slipped off her guitar strap. She missed a step upon spotting the two younger girls and shot a quick, wary glance at Madoka, who just shook her head.

* * *

Haru squirmed uncomfortably in the knowledge that she Was Not Supposed To Be Here, but a quick glance at Kagami showed she was alone in that regard. The red haired girl was positively _beaming_! She jumped when she realized the black haired woman was looking directly at her.

"So, who are you two?" the woman asked as she gave Kagami and Haru a level look.

The woman was certainly intimidating, short as she was. Haru got the distinct impression that this one was the protector of the group.

"Um…we're just a couple of students from the middle school. The big man out front—"

"You're Kakizaki Misa, right? You really are, aren't you?" Kagami suddenly said as her paralysis broke and she rushed up to Misa and grabbed her hands.

"Er…Uh…yes?" Misa replied, taken aback as she glanced from Kagami to Madoka and back. "Did you want an…autograph…" Misa trailed off and peered at Kagami's face for a moment. "Wait, do I know you?"

Kagami nodded excitedly. "It was five or six years ago."

Misa thought for a moment as Sakurako wandered over.

"Ooooh, I thought I knew you," Misa said, as she broke out into a grin. "Kagome-chan, wasn't it? Kagami-chan?"

"Kagami-chan," Kagami replied. Her faced went red and she looked away for a moment.

"Oh! That's right!" Sakurako said, clapping a fist into her open palm. "I remember now! It was when we were kidnapped a few years ago. You were so small back then, Kaga-chan!"

Kagami's face went even redder at that.

"Then…that must mean this little guy belongs to you," Misa said as she unzipped a sports bag and reached inside.

Kagami found herself staring as Misa brought out the little playdoh cat. "I don't understand…how…"

"This little guy showed up a while ago just before we were about to go on," Misa said. "I snatched him up and put him in here for safekeeping. So…how did this guy escape in the first place, hmmm~?" she asked, playfully pulling it back out of reach when Kagami tried to take it.

"Well I fell asleep and Endo…" Kagami said, trailing off as she gestured toward the other girl, who was currently assailing Ako with all sorts of questions on the other side of the room.

"It doesn't matter," Misa said after a moment, allowing Kagami to take the cat. "Just don't let him get away again; it wouldn't be a good idea to let normal people see him."

Madoka strolled up and put her hands on her hips as she gave Kagami a searching look. "Okay, I know you're dying to say something. Go on."

"Well…back then, you said you were a magical girl. And…well…" Kagami glanced at the little cat, which was now seated comfortably in the palm of her hand, purring. "If it's true…"

"Fufufu," Misa laughed when Kagami trailed off. "A magical girl? Indeed I am." Misa stood back and expertly flicked her long hair out of her face. "So are Madoka, Sakurako, and Ako! By day, we play music in the band Dekopin Rocket. But at night, we are the masked avengers of drunk salarymen and con artists the world over!" she declared, spinning around once and ending up in a dramatic pose straight out of anime.

Madoka smacked the back of Misa's head, her face blazing red. "Don't fill her head with lies, you idiot," she grumbled while Misa stuck her tongue out. "Kagami-chan, it's true that we know how to use magic," Madoka said quietly, her eyes straying toward Haru, who had trapped poor Ako in the opposite corner of the room and seemed to be trying to drown her in a torrent of questions. "But is it okay to talk about this with her in the room?"

Kagami blinked in confusion. "I don't know…is it bad?"

"Does she know about magic?" Madoka asked.

"I don't think so," Kagami said, looking a little worried.

"Tell you what," Misa broke in. "We'll meet up some day after school. How is Friday for you?"

Kagami couldn't believe her luck. Friday…! "Fine! It's great!" she answered, barely managing to hold back a squeal of excitement. She would be able to talk to her hero all Friday afternoon!

"Okay then, it's a date!" Misa declared.

Kagami thought she might die from the excitement.

* * *

_**Author's Notes:** ...and that concludes the angst portion of our show. Also, everything is not right in Negima-land for some people. Also also, mysteriousness. More profiles below._

* * *

Sasaki Rina - Student number 22

Born - 4/18/1994

Height - 4'11"

Gymnastics Club

Likes: Big sister, strawberry shortcake, taiyaki

Dislikes: Big sister, lemons

Roommate: Caro Shaw

Little Known Facts: Rina is an excellent singer and loves Karaoke.

* * *

Jennifer Minindry - Often Out Of Work Part Timer

Born - 5/2/1976

Height - 5'1"

Likes: Max, Akira, experimentation with magic

Dislikes: Stagnation, nosy people

Roommates: Shares a rented place with Okochi Akira and Max Linell

Little Known Facts: She looks much younger than her age and can pass for anything from 15 to 30

* * *

Karakuri Chachamaru - Student number 10

Born - 1/1/1995 (reported)

Height - 5'8"

Tea Ceremony Club

Likes: Cats, making tea, Rally

Dislikes: The Assemblage

Roommates: Hayashi Fujiko

Little Known Facts: She actually really hates insensitive people


	7. Ch 5 Settling In

**Still Waters 3, Chapter 5, Settling In**

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* * *

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_She walks on a path of her own choosing, through the thickest and most briar filled part of the forest, but all parts before her until a single enormous bear with a blaze of white on its forehead appears. It stands on its hind legs and roars over the broken bodies of its victims. She pauses, she looks at the bodies of the dead with sorrow in her heart, and she continues on. The bear moves to intercept, but is thrown aside. Shapes flicker through the trees; enormous wolves, muzzles bloody. One steps into the path and looks back at her. It has a scar over one eye and a small discolored patch of fur under the other, like a tear. It walks ahead of her, and the path is clear._

S. Dream Journal_, _from a series of visions regarding Caro Shaw_  
_

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* * *

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_When You Get Up In The Morning And The Light Hurts Your Head_

* * *

_Wednesday, April 15th_

* * *

Max groaned when the alarm clock rang, jolting him out of a deep, dreamless sleep with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer to the gut.

He blinked and glanced around the room in confusion before hazy memories of the night before swam up to the surface.

He definitely remembered unning into Asuna at the teacher's dorm, sorta remembered showing up at the bar. Intellectually he knew the welcome back party must have happened, but… He fumbled for the alarm clock and accidentally knocked it to the floor, ending its aggravating ringing a bit more permanently than he had intended.

Max heaved himself up to a sitting position and gently probed his bruised ribcage with one hand while the other went straight to his aching head as bits and pieces of the previous night came back. He hurt all over, it seemed.

He had a killer headache.

Who would've known that Asuna could drink him under a table? Max was by no means a heavy drinker, but the red head had consumed enough to put anyone under, much less a young Japanese woman like herself. He could only vaguely recall what had happened. He remembered meeting up later at the bar with Negi, Asuna, and Makie, while he brought Jennifer and Akira along. Things had been fairly normal for a meeting of old friends…until Akira discovered shochu, anyway. That hazy memory brought a smile as he tenderly probed his ribs again. That girl had some _vicious_ arm strength; she had clung to him and Jennifer all night, when she wasn't clinging to Makie or Asuna or Negi. If he had known she would be like _that_ after a few drinks…

He should have known Akira would be a clingy drunk. It wouldn't be a surprise if the whole lot of them had bruised ribs today.

He staggered up out of bed and went through the usual morning rituals; stumble to the shower, stumble back out, drag a razor over his face, stumble to the closet to get his clothes… He put a blanket over Jennifer, who was currently practically naked and curled up like a cat in the middle of the hallway, and picked up the woman's pants from the floor nearby as she mumbled something unintelligible. He tossed them at the clothes hamper and headed for the entry room. There, he found Akira sprawled out languorously over the couch, tightly clutching Jennifer's shirt to her chest with one hand as she slept. Her beautiful long hair was all over the place and getting covered in drool, so he gathered it and tied it into a loose knot to keep it together, then put a blanket over her as well. Akira instantly curled up under the blanket, and he couldn't help but grin crookedly as he headed for the door. He put on the cheap sunglasses he kept in a drawer on the small table there and went out into the pre-dawn light on his way to work.

* * *

Caro slipped out of the dorm early and set off for the world tree plaza. She had come to enjoy spending time in the branches of the big tree but had to choose her timing carefully, lest someone see her climbing the tree and the rumors start up again. A quick glance showed no one present except a man in a bakery on the other side of the plaza, so Caro circled around the tree until it blocked the worker's view, then scurried up the tree like a lizard until she reached her favorite branch and seated herself comfortably.

"…hello," came a voice from the right.

Caro nearly fell from the branch in her surprise, until a steadying hand grabbed her shoulder. Why did people always do that to her?

"You should be careful, it's a long way down if you fall." The speaker had a rather deep, soothing voice.

"I'm sorry," Caro said as she looked at the other person. She recognized her as one of the other students in her class, but couldn't remember her name. Something like Takamachi? She just knew the quiet girl often stared out into space during class, usually through the windows on the opposite side of the room, until Negi told her to pay attention.

"No need to apologize," Takahashi Shizuko replied as she settled down next to Caro, leaving a comfortable distance between them. An errant gust of wind took her full in the face and she smiled slightly as her long black hair whipped out behind her.

Caro was spellbound. This girl…this girl…! She swallowed a lump in her throat when the girl turned to look at her with her oddly hypnotic brown eyes.

"You're in my class, right? Caro, wasn't it?"

Caro nodded. "Caro Shaw. I'm sorry, I don't—"

"Takahashi Shizuko," the girl replied.

"Takahashi-san—"

"Call me Shizuko."

"Shizuko-san…" Caro said awkwardly. She fought down the rising panic as she realized that Takahashi-san…Shizuko-san _might have seen her climb up…!_

"Yes?" Shizuko looked at her again, and Caro felt in that moment that she knew _exactly_ what a field mouse felt when it had caught the attention of a hawk.

"Um…did you…did you see me climb up?"

Shizuko leaned back and looked up the trunk of the tree. "No."

Caro just looked at her for a moment. It appeared Shizuko-san was a girl of few words. Caro looked around at the nearby branches and swung her legs idly. So she hadn't been found out. This was really getting dangerous; there was no telling how many people might be sitting around on the branches of the world tree even now…it was a sobering thought. And a weird one. She had thought that her and her new friend Zazie were the only ones to climb up here like this, but...this town was just _full_ of weird people, apparently. The two of them sat in a somewhat comfortable silence for a few minutes.

"Shizuko-san!" someone called out from below. Both Caro and Shizuko looked down and spotted the class rep, Nakamura Sachiko. Caro hadn't thought about it before, but both girls were quiet, elegant, and generally separate from their classmates. It was no wonder they knew each other.

"Yes?" Shizuko replied, as if speaking to someone fifty feet below you from a branch in a giant tree was an everyday occurrence. After a moment Caro realized it probably was, for _this_ girl anyway.

"It's almost time for school," Nakamura answered. "It's time to come down. You too, Caro-san."

Caro blinked. She hadn't thought that Nakamura-san even knew who she was. "O-okay!" she called back. She watched as Nakamura-san nodded and set off for the school.

"Can you get down by yourself?" Shizuko asked.

"Yes."

"Good. See you in class, then," Shizuko said as she fearlessly swung out over the gulf and latched onto the tree trunk. Caro watched in surprise as she made her way down to the ground, hands and feet finding near-invisible perches almost effortlessly. Shizuko looked up at her and waved, and then set off at a sedate pace in the same direction Nakamura-san had gone.

Caro sat and watched Shizuko-san until she was gone, then took a good, long look around the plaza to see if anyone was watching.

"You should be careful."

And, for the second time in ten minutes, Caro nearly fell out of the big tree in surprise; only the newcomer's steadying hand on her shoulder saved her from a fifty foot drop.

Caro clutched at her racing heart and tried to catch her breath while the newcomer waited patiently. "Why did you do that Zazie-san?" Caro demanded as she looked at the girl with accusing eyes. Zazie just blinked at her, as if saying she had no idea what Caro was talking about. "Oh never mind. What did you want?"

"You should be careful; you will be late."

Caro just looked at Zazie for a moment, blinked, and looked down at her wristwatch. "Ah…ah…! I'm going to be late!"

Zazie watched with a enigmatic smile as Caro scrambled down the tree trunk and ran across the plaza.

"I'm surprised at you Zazie-san; if I didn't know any better, I'd think you surprised her on purpose."

Zazie looked at the...new...newcomer for a moment, then turned back to see Caro disappear around a corner. "Hello, Mana." She smiled slightly at her old friend.

"You've gotten better," Mana said from her new spot at the base of the branch, leaning back against the world tree's trunk. "I didn't see you until you were right beside her."

Zazie shrugged noncommittally.

"It's nice to be back in Mahora," Mana said as she settled in beside Zazie. "I haven't been here since graduation. Has anything changed?"

Zazie gave a small shake of her head in reply.

Mana nodded, and the two sat in companionable silence as the city came alive below them.

* * *

Caro was just late enough to be embarrassed when she entered the classroom and twenty-nine sets of eyes turned to look at her.

"It's nice of you to join us, Caro-san," Negi-sensei said from his place behind the podium.

Caro couldn't help but cringe a little as she began the long walk all the way across the room to her seat in the far corner. "I'm sorry, sensei," she said, ducking her head as she walked, trying to ignore the way everyone was staring.

"Wait a moment, Caro-san," Negi-sensei said as he reached out and touched her arm. "Let me get that…"

Caro turned beet red when the teacher pulled a leaf from her hair, and some of her classmates snickered. Had it been there since the world tree? Had she gone all the way through town with that leaf…? She suddenly recalled the odd looks she had gotten on her way to the school. The people who lived in the city, the shopkeepers, the other students…they had all seen…!

She looked down at her feet and tried to keep from crying in mortification as Negi-sensei turned to the class and lectured them about being rude to their fellow classmates. She was so horrified and humiliated that she didn't even hear him speaking or notice when he stopped, until she realized he was speaking to her.

"You may go to your seat now, Caro-san."

"Thank you, Negi-sensei," she mumbled. She quickly made her way to her seat near the window and settled in, trying to ignore Urashima Taro's amused smirk from the table behind her. She folded her hands in her lap awkwardly and looked down at the tabletop until the girl seated next to her, a beautiful girl named Kobayashi Ayumi, all curves, blue eyes, and bright red hair in pigtails, tapped her shoulder. Caro glanced over at her and was horrified to see Kobayashi-san holding up a piece of paper with a hastily drawn sketch of a leaf on it. Her gaze shot back down to the tabletop in front of her as Kobayashi-san tried to muffle her laughter.

It was going to be a long day.

* * *

Lunch time should have come as a blessing for Caro. It was, after all, a fairly long time period during which she could get away from things that bothered her, such as smirking classmates and the girl that shared a table with her in the classroom. Ayumi-san hadn't let up since morning; poking her, jarring the table when she tried to write, and generally being a nuisance. Caro had been irritated of course, but Ayumi was just—

"Caro-chan~"

Speak of the devil.

Kobayashi Ayumi quickly twined her arms over Caro's shoulders from behind and grabbed her tight so she couldn't escape. "Caro-chan~" she said again, whispering huskily into Caro's ear.

Caro tried to squirm away, but Kobayashi-san's possessive grip tightened _almost_ to the point of being painful, so Caro stopped and lowered her head.

"What is it, Kobayashi-san?" she asked.

"Oh, nothing. I just wanted to say that leaf on your head this morning was great, you've got a good sense of humor," Kobayashi said, releasing the shorter girl and turning her around to face her. She kept her hands clamped on Caro's shoulders. Caro wouldn't meet her eyes, so she put a finger under Caro's chin and made her raise her head. "You're so cute when you're like this, Caro-chan~" she said, her voice going husky again. Caro couldn't help but spot something brutally hard hidden deep in the other girl's gaze. It was eerie and just felt so _wrong _that she tried to back away, but Kobayashi followed, forcing Caro into the wall behind her so she couldn't get away.

"Hey Ayumi! Come on, leave her alone. We've got a problem over here," someone said from the other side of the room.

Ayumi shot an annoyed look at the small group across the room and grumbled something under her breath, then fixed Caro with her gaze again. "Fine. I'll see you later, Caro-chan."

Caro flinched as Ayumi flicked her finger up from Caro's chin and smacked the tip of her nose with it, then turned and headed toward where Kondo Kai and Kara Stride, another transfer student and also the one who had just called Ayumi, were loudly discussing something about music. Caro took the chance to escape, and was out into the hallway in a flash.

She made her way through the crowds milling around in the halls, trying to stay unnoticed, and went up the staircase at the far end of the school. She made her way up to the top floor, which was mostly deserted by this point, and, after a quick look around, snuck into the janitor's closet and shut the door after her. To call it a closet wasn't exactly correct; it was easily the size of one of the regular classrooms and probably had been one in the past. But now it was full of cheap shelving, tools, cleaning chemicals, and other essentials to the janitor's trade. Caro moved among the cluttered shelves and made her way to the far corner of the room, where someone had bolted a ladder to the wall. Above the ladder was a trapdoor that led to a little-known higher section of the rooftop, not visible from the ground or even the regular, easily accessible rooftop some students liked to have lunch on. Most people seemed to think that it was just a regular sloped roof and simply weren't aware of the lowered flat space up there. She put her hands on the rungs and started to climb.

"Heya, Caro-chan. Whaddaya think you're doin?"

Caro hunched over a little, then turned to look at the speaker. The woman sprawled lazily in a crooked office chair was an…unusual sight in Japan, if not Mahora. She was easily six feet tall, with fiery red hair and dark brown eyes, not to mention a splash of freckles over her nose and cheeks. The loose, roughly used coveralls she always wore hid her body, but she always moved fluidly and with grace whenever Caro saw her. And, for some reason, she seemed to have adopted Caro as her favorite student.

Caro lowered her eyes to the floor to avoid looking at the woman as she answered. "I'm sorry."

The woman raised an eyebrow. "What for? I swear, kiddo, you've got to toughen up! This is kinda pathetic, you know?"

"I'm sorry, Miss Gunther."

Margaret Gunther sighed and gave Caro a stern look. "So," she said, placing the small electric motor she had been trying to fix on a nearby desk. "What is it this time? You only come here when something's bad wrong, so spill it," she said, lightly kicking another roughly used office chair to indicate Caro should sit.

Caro sat down primly on the chair and looked down at her hands as she folded them in her lap. "It's nothing in particular, it's just…I was late this morning and there was…there was a leaf stuck in my hair and…" she trailed off, squirming at the embarrassment she had felt at the time.

Ms. Gunther crossed her arms and swiveled back and forth in her chair while she listened to Caro describe the events of the day.

"…and Ayumi-san was being weird again."

"What did she do this time?" the janitor asked. The stories Caro told her about this Ayumi girl bothered her.

"Well, she just grabbed me and hugged me like usual, but…"

"Go on."

"She scares me," Caro said, wrapping her arms around herself.

Margaret cocked her head to the side and eyed the small girl for a moment. _That_ had come out of nowhere. "How so?" Little Caro was painfully shy, but it was rare to hear her admit to actually being _scared_ of someone.

Caro thought about it. Really, it wasn't any particular thing Ayumi did that scared her—nothing much _truly_ scared her, to tell the truth—but…well… "Something about her is just _wrong,_" Caro said after a moment's deliberation.

"How so?" Margaret repeated.

"Something in her eyes," Caro said, embarrassed.

"Her eyes," Margaret repeated. She leaned back and looked up at the ceiling for a moment. This… "What is it about her eyes that scares you?" she asked carefully.

Caro shrugged. "I don't really know…I guess it's sort of like how when you look someone in the eye, you can…" she trailed off and looked away, embarrassed. She let her eyes wander the room for a moment as she tried to figure out what to say, her gaze eventually settling on a sledgehammer leaning against the wall nearby. That was a weird place for something like that. 'Should I really tell her about it? Will she believe me? Will she turn me in?' Somehow, she didn't think the woman would. She gulped, steeled her courage, and continued.

"You know how sometimes, when you look someone in the eye, you can sort of, well, see their soul?"

Margaret looked at her for a long moment, long enough for Caro to start squirming, before she answered. "…yeah." She sighed and leaned forward, propping her elbows on her knees and her chin on her hands. "I know all about that sort of thing. But I didn't think _you_ would, Caro-chan."

Caro looked away.

"So, what is it that you see when you look in this Ayumi-san's eyes?"

Caro frowned as she tried to find the right words to describe the utter devastation she had seen in Ayumi's soul. "She's closed off. It's like there's nothing there except hard rock. You know what I mean? Like someone came to a forest and cut down all the trees and scooped out all the dirt and dug as far into the rock underneath as they could..." she said, trailing off as she realized just how ridiculous that must have sounded.

Margaret let out a long breath and leaned back in her chair again; it creaked alarmingly and a small screw fell out of the bottom, causing the seat to lurch to the side. Margaret maintained her balance without any apparent effort as the chair moved. "So someone came along at some point and hurt her so bad that there's almost nothing left. That's bad, but what's so scary about it?" she asked, looking up at the ceiling again.

"I think she wants to hurt me," Caro murmured.

"She wants to hurt you," Margaret repeated, deadpan. "Would you _let_ her hurt you?"

What…! Did she know about…? Caro looked at the woman with wild panic showing in her eyes, but Margaret continued on, apparently unaware of the girl's discomfort.

"I've seen her and she's not much bigger than you, you know. I doubt there's more than a ten pound weight difference, and that's mostly in the chest and hips. You're both skinny and besides, she's only a couple inches taller, right? …you could take her," Margaret finished, shaking her head in amusement.

Caro's eyes widened, and she just stared at the janitor. What on earth…she could 'take her'? Fight with Ayumi? But…she might hurt Ayumi, and she didn't want to do that.

"I…I couldn't…!"

"So I guess that's out of the question, huh?" Margaret said as she shifted to a more comfortable position. The chair creaked again and something snapped, but she ignored it. "Look Caro, I know people like this Ayumi girl. If you don't do something to get her to stop, it'll just escalate until someone gets hurt."

Caro stood up and bowed. "I'm sorry Miss Gunther, but I have to go now."

Margaret smirked and waved lazily, then turned to pick up the electric motor she had been working on before. "Think about what I said, Caro-chan."

Caro stopped at the door and bowed again, then turned and left.

* * *

Wednesday passed, followed by Thursday, and finally Friday, the day Kagami would meet up with Misa-sama after school, arrived.

* * *

Kagami tried to pay attention in class, really she did, but her eyes kept drifting to the clock, and every time she tried to take notes, it somehow turned into sketches of magical girls, cats, magic wands, and interesting costumes.

When the final class of the day ended, she was out through the door almost in the same instant they were dismissed.

Her roommate Endo Haru caught up with her at the shoe lockers.

"Heya Kagami, what'd you run off for?" Haru asked as she swiftly changed her shoes.

Kagami grumbled something about nosy roommates under her breath, but decided she might as well…lie.

"I've got an appointment with a doctor."

Haru was taken aback. "You're alright, right? Are you sick? Do you have a fever?" she asked, putting a hand on Kagami's forehead.

"…no," Kagami stated, then clamped her mouth shut before she could _really_ let Endo have it.

"I don't know Kagami-chan, your face is kinda red and you're breathing pretty hard. There's a weird vein popping up too," Haru replied as she checked her own temperature with her other hand and compared the two. "Is your blood pressure too high?"

"_Now_ it is," Kagami snapped as she pushed past Endo. She paused in the doorway and turned back. "I'll be late coming back."

"Okay, be careful Kagami-chan!" Haru called out, but Kagami was already gone.

* * *

Kagami rushed straight back to the dorms and threw open her closet. She knew she had at least an hour before Endo showed up, maybe two or three depending on the length of the girl's club meeting and whether or not she decided to wander around the city for a while afterward.

No time to mess around, then.

Kagami took out all her clothes and put them on her bed, the better to see them and make a decision. The next forty five minutes was a whirlwind of mixing and matching as she tore through every combination, looking for the one that was _just right_ for her fated meeting with Misa-sama while her little playdoh cat scampered around underfoot. Something casual or something reserved? Something playful or something serious? Blue or red? Green? White? Skirt or pants? Shorts, maybe?

Her brother had always insisted on buying her new clothes every time they got enough money to do, well, _anything_. Things had been tight for the first few years after their parents had died and lost most of their territory, but careful management of the family business had eventually paid off, and apparently her brother wanted to make up for lost time. As a result, Kagami had a ton of clothes, most of which she had never even worn and didn't really match anything else she owned anyway, but it was always nice to receive packages from home, which always contained a few articles of clothing and at least one pair of those really long socks that went up past her knees that her brother seemed so fond of.

So why was it that she _couldn't find a freaking shirt to go with a freaking pair of pants?_

She checked the clock, swore under her breath, and tore into Endo's side of the closet as her little playdoh cat made itself comfortable on top of the pile of rejected clothes. The results of her search among Endo's stuff were…a bit sad. Her roommate's shirts were all _really_ tight in the chest; they were uncomfortable and so tight on her that she felt half-naked in them. It seemed Endo had great taste, however, because she found several combinations that were absolutely perfect, except for the size. Just as she was considering the pros and cons of ripping and sewing, the big clock downstairs began chiming out the hour and Kagami waited with bated breath as she counted the chimes.

…_Three…Four…Five._

It was five o'clock. _It was five o'clock_! Endo should have been back almost an hour ago, and there were only thirty minutes left before her arranged meeting with Misa-sama!

Kagami panicked.

* * *

The short train ride to the station near the café where they were to meet was uneventful, and Kagami probably wouldn't have noticed had anything actually happened; she was too busy freaking out.

Her outer expression was distant, thoughtful, perhaps a bit sad, but inside she was going insane, throwing around the furniture and pulling out her hair in worry. She walked without really paying attention to where she was going, looking down at her cell phone and randomly pushing buttons to keep herself from messing with her clothes. Speaking of which…she glanced down at her clothing and offered a short prayer to any deity that may have been watching that Misa-sama would like it. She wasn't sure about the blouse she had chosen, and she was afraid the skirt was a bit too short; it exposed some of her thigh above the tops of those long socks, and she was very aware of the stares she was getting. If she had been aware that that particular skirt was so short before she left for the station… Normally she hated exposing her legs at all, but…this _was_ better than going out half naked, if only a little. 'I should have gone with the pants,' she thought.

Kagami stepped off the sidewalk and out of the crowd for a moment to catch her breath and get herself under control.

* * *

"So…" Misa said, idly stirring her drink with a straw.

Madoka covered up a yawn and glanced at her wristwatch. Normally she would be asleep at this time of day, or maybe looking blearily at her alarm clock and wondering if it was broken. But she had promised she would be here to help support Misa, so…

Ako hummed a song quietly and took a sip of her drink as she waited patiently.

"She's late," Sakurako said after a moment. The other three nodded, and silence descended over their table again, broken only by Ako's quiet humming.

"You're _still_ humming that song? Don't you know any others?" Misa asked; Ako just smiled awkwardly and Misa heaved a sigh. Honestly, if she had known Ako would go around humming some old song from the sixties or whatever, she would never have given her all those CDs back in the day. The girl wouldn't go more than a couple hours without humming 'Drift Away'.

Madoka let out a heavy sigh and dropped her head to the table. "Wake me up when it's time," she said.

"Madokaaaaaa," Misa whined as she threw an arm around Madoka's shoulders and shook her back and forth. Madoka held back as long as she could, but in the end she couldn't help but grin at the other girl's overacting; Misa was, beyond the shadow of a doubt, crazy. She was about to let loose with a witty comment when she happened to glance up at the front door of the café.

"Well, looks like she's finally here," Madoka said as she shook Misa off and swiped her hair out of her eyes.

"Yeah. But why is she just standing there?" Sakurako asked after a moment.

* * *

Kagami stood in front of the door, staring at the gold lettering.

This was it, she was here. There was no going back once she opened that door. She swallowed the lump in her throat and reached for the door handle, then paused as panic set in again. What if Misa-sama didn't like her clothes? What if she said something stupid and embarrassed herself? What if…

What if this was all a big prank, and Misa-sama wasn't even in there?

"Excuse me Miss? If you're just going to stand around, please move a few feet to the right," a man said sarcastically from behind her.

Kagami's heart leaped into her throat again and she hastily bowed and apologized to the irritated man trying to get into the café. Well…no sense in wasting any more time.

Kagami opened the door and stepped inside.

_They were there_…!

All four of them were there, waiting for her at a table over in the corner, and Misa-sama was waving at her! _It wasn't a lie or a trick_! Kagami felt herself smiling hugely and couldn't stop as she moved to stand beside the table. She just stood there for what felt like an eternity, grinning down at them like an idiot while they looked up at her. She just stood there with that idiotic expression on her face as her brain tried to process the fact that there were only four chairs at the table, and all of them were occupied.

_There wasn't a chair for her to sit in_…!

She was just about to panic when Misa suddenly stood up. "Hmm…stand right there, Kagami-chan," she said as she circled the girl and put a hand to her chin in a thoughtful pose for a moment. She paused in front of Kagami and stared down at her legs for a moment.

Kagami tried to avoid fidgeting, but couldn't help it as she tugged at her skirt. She didn't know what else to do but follow Misa-sama's instructions, but Misa-sama was just staring at her legs, and it was really awkward. There was nowhere for her to sit, she didn't know what to do or say, she didn't—

"Nice!" Misa declared suddenly. She gave Kagami a thumbs up and casually snagged a chair from a nearby table and sat down in it, leaving the chair she had been in when Kagami entered the cafe empty.

Kagami smiled hugely at her and sat down, relieved.

"You know, I really like the skirt. The absolute territory's a nice touch, too. _Very_ nice," Misa said when Kagami was seated.

"Absolute territory?" Kagami asked, looking to the others for help. Sakurako-san was just grinning at her, and Ako-san was sipping a drink.

Madoka just rolled her eyes. "Don't worry about it. It's not important."

"Oh…"

"So!" Misa said suddenly.

"Yes!" Kagami said, sitting up straight.

"How do you like Mahora so far, Kagami-chan?"

Kagami fidgeted in her chair for a moment. "It's nice."

"Got a boyfriend?" Misa asked with a predatory look.

Kagami shifted her gaze down to the table top and shook her head.

"Then how about your teachers?" Misa asked, a wicked grin enhancing her aura of a predator stalking prey.

Kagami instantly turned bright red and shrunk in on herself as images of Negi-sensei raced through her head. "Ah…um…they're nice," she said. Sakurako giggled, Madoka and Ako both smiled, and Misa muffled a laugh into her hand. Kagami felt as if she could crawl into a hole and die.

"It's Negi-sensei, isn't it?" Madoka asked gently. Kagami nodded furiously, prompting a renewed bout of giggling from Sakurako.

"He's really cute, isn't he?" Sakurako asked.

Kagami sank further into her chair and nodded again. She felt like an idiot. Here she was, embarrassing herself in front of her hero and her hero's friends like some sort of stupid kid with a crush on her teacher. She was not a stupid kid! And she _did not_ have a crush on Negi-sensei! Even if the scar on his cheek gave his look a certain wildness that really, _really_—

"That scar on his cheek makes him look so cool," Ako said suddenly, and Kagami found herself nodding, much to her chagrin. She wasn't one for disfigurement, _especially_ facial disfigurement, not even if it made a man look so freaking _manly,_ but it seemed as though all the right forces had aligned to turn what should have been a horrible, disfiguring facial scar into a small part of the work of art that was Negi-sensei. Without the scar, he would seem less than he was. With it… She had no idea where he had gotten the scar, or even when; she only knew that it completed his look.

"Yeah, he really grew up well," Misa said with the air of someone who knows she has missed a wonderful opportunity. She shook her head and raised her hands. "Oh well, what can ya do?"

Kagami glanced around at the others and saw them all nodding in commiseration as her brain finally caught up with what they were all talking about. 'Wait a second…' "You know Negi-sensei?"

Sakurako, Ako, Madoka, and Misa all gave each other incredulous looks, then burst into laughter, prompting sharp looks from some of the customers while Kagami just looked at the four of them dumbfounded.

"What? What did I say?" she demanded, but everyone was too busy laughing to answer or notice the stern-faced man walking quickly toward their table.

"Excuse me, ladies? You're disturbing the other customers. I am afraid I must ask you to leave."

Kagami just looked back and forth from Misa-sama to the manager standing there beside the table, not knowing what to do.

"Sorry sorry, we're going now. Sorry," Misa said, wiping her eyes as she stood up, the others following suit. Kagami bowed awkwardly to the man and hurried to follow the others outside.

"So, what now?" Sakurako asked as she stretched her arms high over her head. Kagami thought it did interesting things to her shirt, and found herself watching blankly.

Misa looked at Kagami and grinned, then snuck up behind her. "Double D," she whispered breathily in Kagami's ear. Kagami jumped and went red yet again, but Misa didn't give her a chance to get her mind back on track. "It's so hard, being us. Four beautiful young women on the path to musical stardom, even the girls want us!" she exclaimed dramatically, tacking on an exaggerated sigh at the end as she flicked her hair expertly.

"Misa…" Madoka said in exasperation.

"Okay, okay. Fine. So, I think I know what _you_ want to do next, Kagami-chan," Misa said, turning her attention back to the younger girl.

Kagami looked down at the sidewalk. "…I want to know about magic," she said after a moment, trying in vain to forget how she had just embarrassed herself. Her eyes kept drifting back to Sakurako-san, so she began inspecting her fingernails to give her eyes something to do. Damn her fascination with…with…curvy…and rounded…

Misa nodded in an 'I _knew_ it' sort of way and grinned widely. "Come on, let's go somewhere where there aren't so many people," she said, interrupting Kagami's straying thoughts as she led the way.

"Where are we going?" Kagami asked.

Misa, fairly skipping now, turned around to face Kagami as she walked. "Huhuhu, we are going to a den of iniquity, a base of evil, the abode of an evil mastermind!" she said, gesturing grandly as she went.

"What...?" Kagami asked. She looked to the others for an explanation.

"We're going to Madoka's house," Sakurako explained, grinning widely, making Kagami blush and turn away.

"Misa is in fine form today," Madoka said quietly to Ako, who nodded.

"She seems happy," the pale girl replied. It had been a long time since she had last seen Misa so excited; it seemed Kagami-chan was just what Misa needed.

* * *

Madoka's house was small, but it was an actual house with a yard, a rarity in this area of the city. It bordered a small, fenced in vacant lot on one side and another small house on the other. The grass in the yard was a bit overgrown, but overall the whole property appeared to be fairly well taken care of. And with its location in this part of the city, Kagami knew it couldn't have come cheap.

They all waited quietly while Madoka fished out a heavy key ring and thumbed through the keys until she found the correct one and unlocked the door.

The inside of the house was quite nice as well, though it utterly lacked the homey feeling most houses developed over time; it felt more like a hastily cleaned teenager's room. Everyone took their shoes off while Madoka went on ahead, making sure nothing embarrassing had been left out the last time she had been here.

"Okay, this is the entry room," Misa explained as she started pointing out various features to Kagami. "The kitchen is over here. Madoka does most of the cooking when we want something homemade. She's very good, she'll make a great housewife some day," she confided to Kagami in a stage whisper. Kagami couldn't help but instantly picture Madoka wearing an apron and a housewife dress with a soup spoon and two kids who looked like Misa-sama and Sakurako-san, while mustached husband Ako-san sat at the table reading a newspaper. She barely managed to choke back a laugh.

Madoka came back at that point and led them through another room that contained a couple of couches, a low table, a TV set, and an overflowing garbage can, and opened a door in the far wall. "Come on. Watch the steps, the second one's loose."

Kagami followed Madoka, carefully avoiding the second step, and descended into the basement, which didn't look like any basement she had ever seen before, even on TV. It was huge, for one thing; a big, well lit, open space roughly the same size as the house above, maybe even bigger. The floor was of clean black and white tile with the occasional sample-sized piece of carpet here and there. Apparently, Madoka knew someone who worked at a carpeting store. A long counter like Kagami had seen in bars on TV stretched a short distance along the left wall; she could see a fridge and a row of cupboards behind it. To the right were another TV, several game consoles, a VCR, and several other pieces of equipment she didn't recognize. There were a dozen or so of those cheap metal folding chairs stacked against the wall next to the bar, and a couple cheap wire-frame DVD racks stood next to the TV set, along with a few stacks of DVD cases piled up against the wall. Cables lay strewn everywhere around the TV. Several devices showed twelve o'clock in blinking green numbers.

But the feature that dominated the room was the raised platform on the opposite end. The walls on that end were ringed with speakers and several instruments were set up there. Guitar cases, a drum set, an expensive looking keyboard...microphone stands and other pieces of equipment were present too. There were also several big boxes on wheels with lots of dials, readouts, and sliding things on them; she thought they might be some sort of recording equipment. She realized she was looking at thousands and thousands of dollars worth of _stuff_ there...what on Earth did they need all _that_ for? And how had they gotten that much money together? None of them looked like they were far out of high school.

Sakurako spotted Kagami looking at the stage and spoke. "That's where we practice, or play for our friends sometimes."

"That's a lot of stuff. And this house! How did you afford…" Kagami trailed off, realizing late just how rude that question actually was.

Misa grinned while Madoka grimaced. "'How can we afford it', right? I'll tell you," Misa said, leaning toward Kagami conspiratorially. "Madoka's rich."

"I am not!" Madoka replied vehemently.

Kagami, completely clueless as to how to handle this situation, looked to Sakurako and Ako for help, but Sakurako raised her hands to show she had no part in it, while Ako just shrugged and shook her head.

Madoka and Misa were still arguing.

"I'm telling you, don't go around saying I'm rich! It's not true!"

"Oh come off it Madoka, your dad owns Toyota," Misa said dismissively.

Madoka grumbled something under her breath.

"What? I couldn't hear you~"

"I said he only owns twenty percent," Madoka said, looking away.

"And your mother's family owns that big chain store~" Misa continued, grinning as she teased her. "And gave you this house~ And tried to give you that car, not to mention the trust fund. Heya, Kagami-chan, did you know that Madoka here is actually so rich she can—"

"HEY! How about we focus on Kagami-chan, okay? It's rude to just leave her out like this," Madoka interrupted. Everyone turned to look at Kagami, who had to scramble for a topic.

"Uh…er…so you play music for your friends in here?"

Misa nodded. "Yeah. And thanks to the spell I had Negi-kun put on the walls, the neighbors don't complain about the noise."

When the implications of that comment finally registered, Kagami's eyebrows shot up and she forgot all about Madoka being rich. "Negi-kun? Negi-sensei? He can do magic?"

Ako nodded while Misa burst into laughter. Even Madoka grinned.

"Oh you have _no_ idea," Misa said when she finally caught her breath again.

"Anyway, let's start at the beginning," Madoka suddenly broke in. She handed Kagami a canned drink, tossed one to Misa, and set up a few of the folding chairs, then turned one backwards and plopped down, propping her arms up on the backrest while the others sat down more normally.

"Thank you. For the drink, I mean," Kagami said awkwardly.

"Don't worry about it," Madoka said, shaking her head. "What did you want to ask?"

"Well…" Kagami began, looking around at the four of them. "Magic is real, right? I mean really _really_ real?" Nods and smiles answered her question. She had always known, ever since that day six years ago, but her logical mind demanded the question be asked.

"So how about the cat? How did you make it alive back then?" she asked as her mind raced, recalling every magical girl show she had watched in the intervening years.

"Well…it's kinda hard to explain," Misa said. "Basically, to animate something you have to put a large amount of power into it in a certain way. Most of the time it's just a temporary thing and only lasts an hour or two, but if you set it up right you can make it last for a lot longer. It's complicated and would take hours to explain, but basically you can make three kinds of animated things. The first type is the temporary kind; that stuff's easy, it's just the cheap puppets anyone with a little skill and enough power can make. The second type is similar to the first, but is changed so that it can absorb magic power to keep functioning for as long as it can find enough power to work with. The third type is the most advanced, and some people believe they can be considered actual, living beings. It's pretty controversial, but…"

"Wait," Kagami said after a moment spent by listening to Misa wander off into a highly technical speech about patterns, waveforms, and various other words that Kagami didn't recognize. "So my cat is the third type?"

Misa shook her head. "No…I think he's the second. I've been doing this stuff for years and I _still_ can't even approach the third type yet."

"But that means he needs magic power to exist, right?" Kagami asked. "…where is it coming from?" Silence fell over the room as everyone looked at her. "What?"

"'Where is it coming from?' I think that's a good question, Kagami-chan," Madoka said after a moment, accompanied by nods from Ako and Sakurako.

"That cat should have stopped moving within a few months, maybe a year at most," Misa said. She drained the drink can and set it on the countertop.

"But…what do you mean? What are you saying, here?" Kagami demanded, shocked and worried and trying to hold back her excitement, in case she had gotten the wrong idea.

"What I mean," Misa said, eyeing Kagami seriously for the first time that day, "is that someone has been providing that little playdoh cat with magic power for the past six years, and because of the sloppy way I made him, it'd take a _lot_ of power. You've had him all that time, right?"

Kagami nodded, dumbstruck. She had kept it with her everywhere except school, anywhere she could carry a bag or a purse. Nobody even knew it existed other than her and her brother. She was pretty sure she knew in the back of her mind what they were getting at, but…

"How big is your family, Kagami-chan?"

"It's just me and Hiro-nii…" she replied, her thoughts flying wildly as she fidgeted in her chair.

"Does he know about the cat?"

"Yes, but he doesn't like it."

"Then that only leaves one person to supply magic to the cat," Madoka said authoritatively. "Someone with a lot of power. So much that it bleeds off at a high enough rate to support a small construct without any trouble."

"You got it," Misa said, nodding in agreement.

Again, Kagami found everyone looking at her. "Then…"

Ako smiled kindly at her. "It's you, Kagami-chan." The others nodded.

"Welcome to the _real_ world, Kagami-chan," Sakurako said happily.

* * *

_**Author's Note:**_ _And here's another one; welcome to the real world indeed. Is everyone enjoying the story so far? Remember, I don't know if you guys like it if you don't review._

* * *

Takahashi Shizuko - Student number 12

Born - 2/5/1995

Height - 5'11"

Calligraphy Club

Likes: Elegant, beautiful things; the sky; the feeling of wind in her face

Dislikes: Her height

Roommate: Sophie Rivers

Little Known Facts: She loves videogames, especially racing games.

* * *

Kobayashi Ayumi - Student number 4

Born - 3/21/1995

Height - 5'3"

Rock Club

Likes: Boys, music, teasing

Dislikes: Boys, letters from home

Roommates: Rosemary Dean, Watanabe Miyako

Little Known Facts: Has many unusual skills, and taught her friend Kondo Kai how to pick locks.

* * *

Margaret Gunther - Mysterious Janitor

Born - 10/31/1983

Height - 6'1"

Likes: Bravery, puppies, kids

Dislikes: Health food, people who won't get to the point and stop wasting her time

Little Known Facts: She is much stronger than she looks.


	8. Ch 6 Magical Girl Kagamin

**Still Waters 3, Chapter 6, Magical Girl Kagamin**

* * *

_Modern Day Warrior, Mean Mean Stride_

* * *

_Monday, April 20th, 2009_

* * *

The streets of the city are dark.

_She pulls on the long black socks, tugging them all the way up._

In the darkness, evil lurks.

_She cinches the stylish belt in place over her dark blue skirt and adjusts the buckle. It is in the shape of a cartoon skull._

Evil with dangerous eyes, holding evil intentions.

_She slips the clingy black shirt on over her head, tugging it down and making adjustments so it fits her frame properly. It doesn't quite reach the top of the skirt, exposing about an inch of skin._

Someone must stand up to this darkness, and who better?

_She puts on the specially made coat and fastens four buttons in the front over her lower chest and stomach, but leaves the rest above and below undone; with her build, it has an interesting effect. Long and dark blue with black trim, the coat has a slit in the back almost all the way up to her waist for ease of movement. It matches the boots she puts on next. The final touch is a dark blue ribbon, which she uses to tie her red hair back in a ponytail as it blows in the wind._

Yes, who better than…Magical Girl Kagamin!

"Maybe a braid would be better?"

_She takes the time to put her hair into a long braid, but ultimately decides to keep the ribbon anyway. She likes the effect._

Beware evildoers, for there is a new hero in town and she will not allow these evildoers to…do evil.

* * *

"Is this really alright, I wonder?" Kagami said aloud as she knelt on a fire escape overlooking a deserted street. It was well past curfew, and she had seen nothing suspicious except a small gathering of cats that had quickly dispersed ten minutes ago. She took out the wand Misa-sama had given her days ago and looked again at the crescent moon on the end. It was awfully plain for a magical girl's weapon. She went over the words again in her mind. 'Practe Bigi Nar, Vente.' That one was for a gust of wind. 'Practe Bigi Nar, Aldescat.' That one was for fire. 'Practe Bigi Nar, Lux.' That one was for a flash of light. Three spells with which to combat evil. It was like something out of a magical girl anime...! Well, more like two spells, really; she didn't see how the light spell could accomplish anything much except looking pretty. She wondered briefly if she could use it somehow in her entrance speech, but decided that that was a bit silly. There was no need for an entrance speech; she wasn't Sailor Kagamin, after all.

The sound of a falling trash can and a muffled curse drew her attention to the alley across the street. She squinted her eyes, but couldn't make anything out in the thick darkness of the alley. 'That would be a good use for a light spell,' she thought. 'Well, if I was down there, anyway. Maybe there is some way to light something up from far away…?'

Silence returned to the dark side street for another few minutes before someone came strolling along, baseball bat propped on her shoulder. Kagami thought the distinctive stride was familiar, but it was too dark to be sure. But that bat…Kagami readied her wand and prepared to descend from the fire escape. There was a vague hint of movement from the alley across the street, but it stilled quickly.

The person in the street stopped walking just short of the light of a nearby streetlamp. "I know you're there, you might as well come out now," she called out.

Kagami almost fell out of the fire escape in her surprise at being found out. 'Should I go? Does she want to fight? She must, with that bat… Should I just stay here and pretend I didn't hear?' She briefly considered fleeing across the rooftops; they were close together in this part of town, and she could get quite far before being forced to descend to the streets. She dismissed that option quickly, however. In her current attire she could be easily spotted in a crowd by anyone who wasn't blind. If the bat-girl down there decided to pursue her, she could find her easily, no matter where Kagami tried to run.

The issue was rendered moot, however, when several men stepped out of the alley across the street, where she had seen movement some time before. So…the bat girl had been speaking to them, rather than Kagami…that was a relief. Kagami shifted to a more comfortable position and tried to listen to the conversation between the leader and the bat girl.

…it was no good, they were too far away, just beyond the range of hearing. She moved as close as she could on the fire escape platform and leaned over the railing, getting as close as possible in order to hear better. Still no good. She hooked one foot around one of the bars that made up the railing and leaned further out, overbalanced, and flailed for something, anything, she could hang on to in order to stop her fall. Her hand closed on one of the ladder rungs and pulled the ladder down noisily as she fell.

* * *

Urashima Taro had had a rough day. First of all, she had been forced to sit through a series of extremely boring classes on things she couldn't care less about. Now, if there had been a lecture about the samurai or the dark ages or something interesting like that, she wouldn't have been so annoyed; instead, it had been stuff about ancient hunter-gatherer societies, and the other classes had been no better. Even worse, there had been a pop quiz in math, and she was quite sure she had failed it. And finally to top it all off, she had had a training meeting arranged with Asuna-sempai after school, but the woman had called at the last minute and canceled the meeting.

To put it simply, Taro was ready for a fight. And so it was that she jumped at the chance, upon discovering the anonymous challenge note someone had sent to her room in the dorm, to take up her trusty baseball bat and head out to the streets. She had quickly made her way to the specified location, and…here she was. She paused for a moment in the darkness between two streetlights and listened.

Taro wasn't blind or deaf (far from it, in fact; especially with her naturally ki-enhanced senses), so she quickly noticed the constant shifting noises from the person hiding on the fire escape in an alley to her right, along with the half dozen or so people milling around and trying to be quiet in the alley to the left. Fire Escape seemed to be unrelated, but the alley gang was likely waiting in ambush for her to walk past.

She stepped into the circle of light under a streetlamp and slung her bat up to rest on her shoulder again. "I know you're there, you might as well come out now," she called out. There was a quick flurry of small movements from Fire Escape, but only dead silence greeted her from the Alley Gang.

She waited patiently until the people in the alley shuffled out into the harsh glare of the streetlights.

"So, Hideki. I should've known," Taro said, her voice thick with contempt. "I thought you knew better than this, especially after what happened last time."

"Shut up, butch bitch," the leader spat as he drew a knife, a move mirrored by his friends as they drew whatever weapons they had.

Taro raised an eyebrow. Butch bitch? That was a new one. Not particularly good, but new. She had heard much better from that biker gang last year.

Hideki, annoyed at the lack of reaction from what he thought was a pretty good insult, dug a bit deeper and came out with a real gem.

"Where's your new girlfriend? I thought you were humping her every chance you got—"

"Shut up," Taro growled. _That_ one had done it. She had no problem with insults directed at herself, but when they dragged someone she respected as much as Asuna-sempai into it…

She glared at Hideki as he started to run his mouth. He was big, almost as big as Max-sensei, but she could take him. She had beaten him several times before; the last time had been quite severe, and he hadn't bothered her in a while. But now it looked like she would have to remind him of the lesson he seemed to have forgotten in the past few months.

A startled, girlish yelp followed by the sound of rusty metal scraping against rusty metal diverted her attention back to Fire Escape for only an instant, but that instant was just long enough for Hideki to see an opportunity and lunge toward her, his knife low with the cutting edge up.

She tried to parry with the bat, too slow, but the knife sliced deeply into her side instead of sticking in her stomach, drawing a long red stripe that quickly spread across the side of her shirt.

* * *

"You should be more careful," a quiet voice said from behind Kagami as she scrambled to her feet. She had hit the ground _hard_, and her rear end hurt.

"Who's there?" she asked, fear clear in her voice.

"No one for _you_ to worry about. Kinda looks like Taro-kun could use some help, though. Care to join me?" the voice said in a sardonic tone.

Kagami couldn't see the new girl's face in the darkness and didn't recognize her voice; but, now that she knew that it was Urashima Taro-san out there in the street, well…you were supposed to support your classmates, even if you never really spoke to them. She waited for the strange girl to pass, then followed her to the end of the alleyway where she finally got a good view of the girl she was following and the scene in the street.

The girl was striking. Definitely not beautiful, but sort of pretty in an unusual kind of way Kagami just couldn't put her finger on. She wore a school uniform Kagami recognized as being from St. Ursula High School; the wooden sword she held propped across her shoulder was definitely not part of the uniform, however.

As for the scene in the street…it was bad. Taro-san's side was bleeding badly, and the man she had been speaking to earlier was standing threateningly off to the side as his friends fanned out, watching her eagerly.

"What's your name?" the high school girl asked.

"Class 2A, Student Number Eighteen, Mochizuki Kagami."

"Well then, hello Kagami. I see you've got a wand...you know the basic spells at least, right?"

Kagami nodded in irritation. This girl behaved with far too much familiarity, even if she _was_ a sempai.

"Good. Now stay here and give me a wind spell when I signal you." She straightened up and moved purposefully out into the street, walking straight toward Hideki who didn't see her until she had covered over half the distance.

"What do you want?" Hideki demanded warily when he spotted her stepping out of the shadows. "This is a matter between me and butch-girl here. You stay out of—"

_WHACK_

The sound of wood meeting flesh was followed by a sickening snap, as of bones breaking, and the clatter of a knife as it fell to the ground.

"GRRRAAAHHHHH!" Hideki howled as he cradled his broken wrist. Another strike across the back of his thighs knocked his legs out from under him and he fell heavily to the ground.

The wooden sword returned to the girl's shoulder and she made a motion with her free hand, so Kagami readied her wand. "Practe Bigi Nar, Vente," she whispered.

* * *

Hideki looked up at the sword girl in fear, the pain from his thighs and his broken wrist fogging his mind and making his eyes water. He didn't even realize his knife, lying on the ground where he had dropped it earlier, was only a few feet away. She was standing over him now, that wooden sword propped over her shoulder menacingly. A breeze blew up seemingly out of nowhere, blowing her uniform skirt and shirt and covering one of her eyes with hair. She didn't so much as twitch, and the effect was very intimidating and more than a little creepy, especially with this girl's reputation…he had recognized her immediately. Any street punk who wanted to continue _being_ a street punk knew who this girl was; she was one of a select group of people you just don't mess with. He glanced around for his gang, but they were conspicuously absent, having already fled.

"Y-you—"

"Shut up."

Hideki shut up.

"You hurt my friend…I won't forgive you. And the thing in this jar is hungry," she said, pulling out a small glass jar of the type plastic model paint came in, with a cork in place of the traditional cap; there seemed to be something dark inside it. She held the jar out at arm's length and loosened the cork with thumb and forefinger in a quick, fluid motion as if she had done the same thing innumerable times before.

Hideki tried to run away, or at least return to his feet, but her eyes pinned him to the ground and his breathing became ragged as terror bloomed in his heart.

A twisted, demented look briefly flitted across her face and was replaced with a detached expression that was somehow worse and sent spasms of fear through Hideki as he finally snapped out of it and scrambled to his feet and backed away quickly, holding his hands out pleadingly toward her.

"N-n-no, don't—"

"Shut up." She suddenly whipped the hair out of her eyes and _nailed_ him in place with her stare. "It is hungry, and it will feast on your soul." She popped the cork out of the jar and let it drop to the ground. "Itadakimasu." A small black shape flitted across the space between them and hit Hideki full in the chest hard enough to knock him down again. Silence descended over the mostly deserted street for the space of one full second, then was abruptly broken.

Hideki screamed like a little girl as he scrambled up and ran away with all his might. The girl with the sword simply stood, watching him go with a relaxed expression.

"Damn it Reiko, I didn't need your help," Taro said from where she sat on the ground, trying to stop the bleeding in her side.

"Sure you didn't. What were you going to do next, bleed on him?" Reiko asked, dropping the creepy persona as she knelt beside Taro. Kagami hesitantly came out of the alley.

"This is all your fault, you know," Taro said, glaring at the redhead as she emerged. "If you hadn't fallen out of that fire escape and distracted me when you did—"

"Yeah, like you've never made a mistake before," Reiko said pleasantly. "Take off your shirt."

Taro grudgingly complied while Kagami looked the other way, her face red; Taro was surprisingly well developed. Not to say that she always looked at other girls like that, definitely not. _Especially_ not in the showers after P.E. when everyone was taking off their clothes. It was just that she had never seen Taro-san without a shirt. It was just simple embarrassment. Yes. _Embarrassment._

Reiko brought out a small roll of bandages and wrapped them around the exasperated Taro's midsection, covering the long, ragged cut in her side; Hideki's knife hadn't been properly sharpened, apparently. "Asuna-sempai will not be pleased," Reiko said when she had finished. Taro looked down at the pavement.

"R…Reiko-san?" Kagami asked. Taro-san had called her Reiko...

"What?"

"Was that really…what was that?" Kagami asked, referring to the black…thing that had been in the jar.

Reiko finished tying off the bandage and smirked as she looked for the cork she had dropped. "You could call it a grudge, I guess. It's not the classic form or whatever, but it's the kind of angry spirit that gets born by bad feelings in a place where a lot of bad things happened. That one's from a house I exorcised about a month ago; some kid went crazy and axed his parents and sister a few years back. It's just a weak one though, nothing to worry about. It'll just give Hideki-kun bad dreams for a while, it won't _really_ eat his soul." Reiko straightened up and stretched, letting out a comfortable sigh. She pushed the cork back into the bottle and pocketed it. "Well, it'll only eat his soul a _little_. It won't kill him anyway." She paused. "I don't think."

Kagami felt a sense of relief, until she thought about Reiko-san's explanation a bit more deeply. She made a mental note not to annoy this girl if at all possible. Ever.

"Anyway, nicely done with that wind. You've got talent, Kagami," Reiko said after a moment. Kagami didn't know why she should feel so pleased, but…

"Okay, you two head back to the dorms. And be careful you don't get caught by the dorm mother, it's past curfew," Reiko ordered. Taro and Kagami nodded and reluctantly made their way down the street while Reiko made a show of dusting off her uniform.

When they were finally gone, she straightened up and looked straight up at Endo Haru, who was kneeling on a nearby rooftop. "Shouldn't you go? She'll realize you're gone when she gets back, you know."

Haru winced at being caught, but clumsily climbed down from the roof anyway. Sadly, her landing left something to be desired. In any case, no broken bones. "Thanks for watching out for Kagami, Reiko-sempai. But that's dangerous... You'll recapture it, right? The grudge?"

Reiko waved her off. "Yeah, don't worry about it. I'll get it back in a day or two, after Hideki-kun's learned his lesson. Now go on, get out of here. I've got an exorcism to perform on the other side of town."

Haru nodded. "You won't tell her about me, right? I mean, I don't want anyone to find out if I can help it…"

Reiko shook her head. "Don't worry about it. Go on, that Kagami is pretty fast."

"Okay Reiko-sempai. Please don't push yourself, okay?"

Reiko was already walking away. "Don't worry about it," she said without looking back.

Haru watched her go for a moment, then clumsily climbed back up to the rooftops and made her way back to the dorms.

* * *

Negi leaned comfortably on the podium in front of the class the next day as he called roll, completely ignorant of the effect his relaxed slouch and slight smile was having on the class in general.

"Kara Stride?"

"Here."

"Endo Haru?"

"Here."

"Mochizuki Kagami?"

"Here."

He glanced at Kagami's new hairstyle as he continued the roll call. The braid was quite nice; it suited her well. "Sasaki Rina?"

"Here!"

…and Rina-san was cheerful as always. In fact, she reminded him a lot of her older sister Makie-san. It was a shame the two of them didn't get along… "Urashima Taro?" And who had put the class list in this weird order? Wasn't it normally supposed to be done alphabetically?

"Urashima Taro?" he asked again when no one answered. He glanced up and noticed for the first time that her seat was empty. "Has anyone seen Taro-san?" Normally he would just ask her roommate, but unfortunately Taro-san had the dubious honor of being considered as incapable of living with others and therefore had a dorm room all to herself. The students murmured and looked at one another for a moment before someone spoke up.

"She had an accident, that one," Ono Ran said, fingering her thick braid; it put Kagami's new one to shame. The class muttered excitedly at Ran's comment until Negi quieted them.

"What do you mean, Ono-san?" he asked the dark haired girl. Ono Ran was known among her classmates for A) being creepy, and B) giving startlingly accurate predictions. Her actions in other areas certainly didn't help; the other students avoided her like she had the plague.

"Urashima-san had an injury in her side when she returned to the dorms last night," she explained. "I just concluded that she had had an accident. You may ask Shizuna-sensei if you wish…," Ono said, shrinking in on herself as the class turned its attention on her.

"Oh, that's Ono-san for you."

"Yep, Ono-san sure is dependable."

Negi pondered this information for a moment as the class rattled on and Ono seemed to shrink in on herself further. Some of the students were notably silent, however. Mochizuki Kagami was carefully inspecting the tabletop in front of her, and Endo Haru was fidgeting nervously. Those two, while not the loudest students in his class, were normally quite talkative. He made a mental note to ask them about it after school, but for now he had a class to teach.

* * *

Negi strolled along the sidewalk on his way home after school, thinking about what he had found out from Shizuna-san.

According to Shizuna, Taro-san had gone to the nurse's office first thing in the morning, and stayed there all day. The girl had had a shallow, seven-inch cut just above her left hip, and Shizuna-san had been forced to call in a doctor friend of hers to look at it, since Taro-san simply refused to go to a hospital. When asked about how she had acquired such an injury, Taro-san had become evasive, muttering something about falling on a piece of glass.

Maybe…and maybe pigs could fly.

Unfortunately, Taro-san was long gone by the time he got to the nurse's room, so he had been unable to ask her himself. It was quite worrying…he knew all about Taro-san's little forays out into the dangerous parts of the city, but she had never been injured like that before. He didn't like it; the worst she had had before was a few bruises, from what he understood.

He didn't like any of it. His students seemed to be getting in over their heads, and there was nothing he could do about it if he couldn't even find them. He entered the teachers' dorm and went up the stairs. Well…maybe it would help if he bumped his yearly club inspections up a week or so and did them tomorrow?

Negi grinned a little at the thought as he fished out his keys and opened the door.

Asuna poked her head out of the bathroom. "Hey Negi. How was school?"

Negi took off his coat and flopped gracelessly on the couch. "Hello Asuna-san. It was troubling," he said absently as he flicked open the class roster and checked the clubs again. Just like every year before, there were quite a few students involved in the many fighting and martial arts clubs; one kickboxer, two kendoists, an archer, a judo practitioner, and finally Taro-san in the Fighting Club.

"Hmm? How so?" Asuna asked, her voice muffled as brushed her teeth.

Negi almost didn't hear her, busy as he was mentally planning out tomorrow's club visits. The Rock Club and Tea Ceremony Club both had four members, the Cooking Club and Library Club each had two, and the remaining eleven students were spread evenly through a variety of other clubs, such as the Pottery Club or the Walking Club. It might take two or three days to get to them all, but he didn't mind; it was something to look forward to. Not to mention a lot of fun.

"Negi? How was it troubling?" Asuna asked again from the bathroom.

"Huh? Oh. I'm sorry, it's been a long day," Negi explained. "Anyway, one of my students was injured last night."

"Oh? Is she okay?"

Negi heard Asuna spit her toothpaste in the sink and turn on the faucet. "She seems to be fine, but I'm kind of worried," he said, grinning awkwardly at the ceiling.

"Which one is it?" Asuna asked as she came out of the bathroom and stood next to the couch. Negi glanced up at her and sat up to make room.

"Apparently she has quite a reputation as a bully," Negi said. "Her name is Urashima Taro, and I'm really quite worried about—"

"I'm gonna kill her," Asuna stated as she plopped down on the couch.

"-her. Do you know her?"

"I ran into her when I first came back," Asuna explained. "Did you know she's considered one of the best fighters in town?"

Negi contemplated this. "Really?" He was considered one of the best himself, but since he was also an authority figure…it was really annoying to be left out of the loop.

"Yeah, they call her the 'Street Sweeper', or something ridiculous like that," Asuna said, rolling her eyes.

"The 'Street Sweeper'?" Negi asked carefully, trying to avoid bursting into laughter.

"Yeah…are you sure she's all right?"

Negi nodded. "Shizuna-sensei's doctor friend is quite good. He said as long as she takes it easy and keeps it clean, it should heal nicely. She said it was strange though. She said it looked like an old injury that had had quite a while to heal. Weird, huh?"

"Okay so I'll kill her after she gets better," Asuna said, waving her hand as if to say 'whatever'.

Negi passed the class roster to Asuna, who started looking over the pictures. She was curious; she hadn't seen this year's class roster yet.

"Oooh, Rally-chan finally decided to take some classes, huh? And I'm surprised to see Eva-chan here. I thought she said she hated going to school?"

Negi grinned. "Yes. Master isn't very truthful with herself, is she? Anyway, I have my yearly club visits tomorrow, so I need to get some sleep. Goodnight, Asuna-san."

"G'night Negi. Have fun tomorrow," Asuna replied as she wandered off toward the bedroom.

* * *

_**Author's Notes**: Look forward to the club meetings! Also, more student profiles below._

_

* * *

_

Rally Wheeler - Student number 29

Born - 4/18/1994 (official)

Height - 5'5"

Tea Ceremony Club

Likes: Chachamaru-nee-chan, making tea

Dislikes: Being in the spotlight

Roommate: N/A

Little Known Facts: Has secretly defended the school from vandals and thieves many times.

* * *

Ono Ran - Student number 13

Born - 8/29/1994

Height - 5'1"

Fortune Telling Club

Likes: Meditation, open spaces

Dislikes: Crowded places, touchy-feely people

Roommate: Yoshida Ume

Little Known Facts: She enjoys late night anime.

* * *

Miyoshi Youko - Student number 20

Born - 5/30/1994

Height - 5'10"

Kendo Club

Likes: Playing pranks, crowds, friendly people

Dislikes: Kyoto

Roommate: Inoue Ai

Little Known Facts: She is quite good at making woodblock prints


	9. Ch 7 Club Visits

**Still Waters 3, Chapter 7, Club Visits**

* * *

_Behold, the Hero, the Nexus of Hope. He will know loss, and he will know despair. He will gather them in their masses, and all will look upon him and heap their praises upon him. An unstable platform. Should he fall, so will the world. - _Number 7, From _The End Time Prophecies_, Part 1, Vol. 2, Personages of Import, as compiled by Merlin IV

* * *

_Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009_

_

* * *

_

Negi strolled out through the front door of the school after the end of classes the next day and found Sakai Reiko waiting for him.

"Hello Reiko-san, what brings you to the middle school today?" Negi asked the high schooler, already knowing the answer.

Reiko grinned a crooked grin and fell into step beside Negi. "You're going to visit the clubs today, right? I just want to see my cute juniors at play," she said.

Negi couldn't help but notice that her grin had become an amused smirk. "Oh? Who told you?"

"Asuna-san," Reiko replied. Negi nodded and the two of them fell silent as they walked.

Negi took the class roster from under his arm and flipped it open.

"So who's first?" Reiko asked, looking at the roster from the side.

"I was thinking about visiting the New Gym. I understand the fighting clubs are staging their annual Welcome Exhibition Tournament today for the new members…"

"Ooh, violence," said Reiko. "Should be interesting. How many will be there?"

The corner of Negi's mouth quirked upward as he handed the class roster over. Of course Reiko would say something like that; she was quite bloodthirsty. His odd little half-smile became a full-on grin at that thought, and he turned to look at her. Reiko looked up from the roster and smiled back brightly, her eyes full of wickedness and life, and he couldn't help but let out an amused chuckle and think about Stan, back home in the old village, and what he might have had to say about fraternizing with someone like Reiko. Well…there was nothing Negi could do about it now; he had already fallen in with a 'bad element'. He found himself grinning like an idiot…and it was all right.

The two of them continued on to the New Gym.

* * *

The so-called New Gym had been completed back in 2005; it had been built to replace the old gym, which had been damaged during 'The Akira Incident', during which half the city had been damaged by fire or flood. The city itself was fine now of course, Mahora wasn't the sort of place to wallow in its own destruction.

Negi held the gym door open for his ex-student and followed her inside.

The interior of the New Gym was quite crowded with students and faculty members milling around on the floor or seated in the bleachers while they watched the club members fight. As for the fighting area, four large mats had been set up so four matches could be held at once. It certainly sped things up, Negi decided. With as many participants as he saw in the gym, doing it one at a time would take all day. He climbed the bleachers and scanned the crowds for any of his students for a moment before he spotted Possum Cade's distinctive dirty blonde head of hair; she was a few inches taller than most of those around her. He spotted her just a few seconds too late to see the decisive moment as Possum-san stepped away from her downed opponent, watching warily until the official announced her as the winner.

"Okay, who's next?" she demanded.

"That would be me." Everyone turned to see the newcomer, a girl named Hayashi Fujiko who was also one of Negi's students. Hayashi-san was a serious girl in class, and from what he had seen in last week's essay, she seemed to have a strong sense of justice.

"I recognize that uniform; she's from the judo club," Reiko said to Negi, who nodded as he looked back and forth between the two fighters. "Which club is the American girl from?"

"Kickboxing," Negi said after a moment. This situation was a bit worrying…Possum-san seemed a fiery sort once she got going, and Hayashi-san was likely to hold a grudge if her opponent went too far.

"Kickboxing and Judo, eh? Which one do you think will win?" Reiko asked, a teasing tone in her voice as she looked both fighters over. Normally, a semi-skilled judo practitioner could defeat a semi-skilled kickboxer a lot of them time. But the foreign girl looked too relaxed; either she was overconfident, or she had faced people like this Hayashi girl before. Reiko had a feeling it was the latter.

As for Negi, he eyed both his students for a moment. He knew how this sort of thing usually turned out, and while he had never seen Possum-san fight before, he had seen Hayashi-san training with members of the judo team and had heard of her prowess from some of the other teachers.

"Hayashi-san," Negi said finally.

"Ten meal tickets says the American girl wins," Reiko replied instantly.

Negi grinned slightly. What use did he have for meal tickets? Eh…whatever. It was nice to see Reiko excited about something; she was normally so withdrawn. "Sure." He settled in and mentally prepared himself to watch two of his students beat the ever-loving crap out of each other.

* * *

The match started out simply enough. Both girls made several feints, which received feints in turn. It would have appeared quite dull to any casual observer; not so to Negi. His eyes caught the subtle nuances of each motion, the back and forth as each girl moved and responded to her opponent's movement. At one point, Possum-san actually tried a real kick, but Hayashi-san was quick enough to avoid it, though she wasn't able to turn it to her advantage. The stalemate continued for another thirty seconds or so before abruptly exploding into a flurry of action as Possum-san shot in close, forcing Hayashi-san to lose the initiative and defend herself.

Negi sighed, secure in the knowledge that he owed Reiko ten meal tickets as Possum-san landed a kick. Hayashi staggered and looked to be losing her balance as Possum-san landed another, but Hayashi caught the next and suddenly Possum-san was flat on her back on the mat while Hayashi, still dazed from a blow to the head, attempted to get her in an anklelock. Possum hooked a leg around Hayashi's face and twisted, rolling the other girl over, then, in the same motion, snagged one of Hayashi's arms and locked it into an armbar in an instant.

Hayashi was forced to reluctantly admit defeat.

* * *

Reiko whistled. "Nicely done. Now, I believe you owe me ten meal tickets, sensei," she said, smirking at him.

"Looks like that was the last match," Negi said, carefully ignoring her as he stood up and started to make his way down the bleachers to the floor level along with the rest of the spectators. Now, where had they gone…? He scanned the crowds for a moment before he spotted one of the girls. "Possum-san, Possum-san! Come here for a moment!" Hayashi-san was nowhere to be found, lost among the sea of Japanese students.

The girl looked at the locker room, then back to Negi, then seemed to droop as she took one last longing look at the locker room before finally turning around and trudging toward the teacher.

"Hello sensei," she said when she was standing in front of him. She slouched a bit and seemed to be looking everywhere but at Negi.

"Hello, Possum-san. You were amazing in your match with Hayashi-san! It was close there for a moment, until you put her in that armbar."

The younger girl glanced at Reiko, who grinned knowingly, and blushed as she looked at the far wall. "It's just a trick my sister showed me," she said as her gaze flicked back to Negi for an instant, then drifted up to the ceiling lights as she fidgeted. "I'm sorry about helping Taro get away from you a while back, sensei. She said she needed my help, so…"

Negi nodded. Even though he had been worried about Taro-san's well being, nothing had came of her argument with that older girl, so things must have turned out fine. It _was_ aggravating though, and it was worth knowing that Possum-san was willing to help Taro escape from him like that. But honestly, had had no idea that she was anything but a beginner in kickboxing...! Hayashi-san either. Both of them were very good for their age group.

"I'd like to spar with you some time," Negi said.

Reiko grinned wickedly and nearly broke into laughter at the horrified/hopeful look on the girl's face, and just how oblivious Negi still was in regards to the effect he had on every girl around him. Without a doubt, Possum-chan was harboring a huge crush. She decided to stir the pot a bit.

"Oh, I'm sure you'd _love_ to grapple with him some time, wouldn't you Possum?" Reiko asked. Possum gave her a look of such horrified guilt that she couldn't hold back her laughter any longer.

"What…?" Negi asked, slow on the uptake.

Possum muttered a quick goodbye and practically _ran_ to the safety of the locker rooms, leaving Negi confused and Reiko trying to get a hold of herself and stop laughing.

"What was that all about?" Negi asked innocently. "Anyway, have you seen Hayashi-san anywhere?" he asked.

"She went to the locker room while you were talking to Possum-chan," Reiko said, still grinning.

"Oh, that's a shame. I wanted to talk to her too...," Negi said as he reluctantly joined the rest of the crowd drifting out through the doors.

"So, who's next?" Reiko asked as she fell into step beside him. When the two of them had finally made their way outside, she watched as Negi flipped open the class roster.

"Well, the Kendo Club isn't meeting today, so that leaves…the Archery Club," Negi said, shutting the class roster with a snap. "It meets behind the gym. Let's go."

* * *

The Archery Club had just finished their meeting by the time Reiko and Negi arrived at the archery range.

"So, which one is in this club?" Reiko asked, eyeing the class roster.

Negi passed it to her. "Rosemary Dean-san. But…"

Reiko looked at the girl's picture in the book, then scanned the club members as they went about cleaning up. "I don't see her." She recalled something she had been wondering about for a long time and looked at him oddly for a moment. "Hey Negi, tell me something."

He stopped scanning over the club members and glanced at her. "Hmm?"

"Why do you use honorifics with Americans and the English? You even do it with Max-sensei and Jennifer. That's kinda weird," she said, looking back at the club members as they moved around the archery range, cleaning up.

"I don't know. I guess it's just a habit," Negi replied, frowning. He hadn't ever really thought about it before...it probably had something to do with having lived in Japan half his life, especially since it was the more recent half...but there was something more important going on here. "She's not here."

"She skipped out on cleaning duties, huh?" Reiko asked rhetorically. She grinned. "I think I'm liking her already."

Negi looked at her with a teacherly expression. Or at least, what he thought was a teacherly expression. "Reiko-san, you shouldn't say things like that," he said, knowing it was useless before he even spoke.

"Yeah, yeah."

"Anyway, I think I will have to have a talk with her after school tomorrow about responsibility," Negi said, making a note on the class roster.

"It's getting late, but there's still time for one more visit, right?" Reiko asked after a moment as they headed back for the school building. Reiko snatched the class roster and flipped it open.

Negi took the roster back and took another look in it. "Hmm…the Tea Ceremony Club and the Library Club should both be meeting right now…"

"Okay. Let's go see Eva-chan."

* * *

Reiko carelessly tossed the door open and stepped inside as the four occupants looked up. "Yo, Eva-chan," she said, raising a hand.

"Show some respect," the vampire replied in a bored tone as she looked back down at the cup of tea she was holding. She then took a sip. She had long ago gotten used to the girl's odd behavior, and the fact that it seemed to center around herself. She had decided that it didn't particularly bother her, since the reactions the girl caused in others were often so amusing. If Reiko ever had the temerity to call her "Kitty" though, no one would ever find the body. "Hello Negi-sensei," she said when Negi entered, the corner of her mouth moving upward in a smirk. There was a reason to keep the charade up, after all; the fourth member of the club didn't know the truth about Negi's situation.

"Greetings, Negi-sensei," Chachamaru said, quickly mimicked by her sister Rally.

"G-greetings, Negi-sensei."

"Hello, Negi-sensei," Nakamura Sachiko said. In addition to being the class representative, she was also an avid tea enthusiast, among other things. "If I may be so bold, what brings you here?"

Negi smiled at Sachiko and was honestly surprised when her eyes widened and she turned away briefly. Reiko's grin returned and Eva rolled her eyes.

"I'm just doing my annual check of the clubs my students belong to. Have you been interested in the tea ceremony long, Nakamura-san?" Negi asked as he sat down opposite Eva. Chachamaru quickly prepared a cup of tea for him while the younger robot Rally watched intently.

"Thank you, Chachamaru-san," Negi said politely as he received the tea. Reiko plopped down comfortably on the cushion next to him and accepted the cup Rally brought over. She took a sip, grimaced, and quickly set the cup back on the table.

"Yes, my grandmother taught the tea ceremony to me a long time ago," Sachiko answered.

'She really is graceful,' Negi thought as he looked at the girl, unaware that he was the reason for her uncharacteristic nervous fidgeting.

After a few minutes of the other five talking like old friends, Sachiko managed to relax and joined in. Everyone chatted companionably for the next twenty or thirty minutes until Eva declared the meeting to be over, and Sachiko quickly dismissed herself and left the other three members with Negi and Reiko.

"So," Eva began when Sachiko was gone, "What did you need, boy?"

"It's just my yearly club visit," Negi answered. And the truth of it was, that was the only reason he had come. But Eva was expecting something, so he brought up something that had been bothering him. "Master, it's been six years since then, do you think—"

"Oho, so _that's_ what it is," Eva said, a toothy smile growing on her face. It was quite unsettling. "Have you decided who to bring with you to the other world?"

"Well, I know I want Asuna-san and Kotarou-kun with me."

"What about Miyazaki Nodoka? Asakura? My best apprentice? I'm sure any number of your former students will want to go," Eva said, settling back on her cushion in a more comfortable position.

Negi looked conflicted as he averted his eyes. "I don't know. I don't want…" he trailed off while Eva gave him a flat look and Reiko's eyebrows rose.

"You're still saying that?" Reiko demanded. Eva gave her a look and she shut her mouth. There were limits to Eva's newfound good nature, after all. Being freed from her curse had removed a lot of stress, true…but it had also removed the restrictions on her power, and one thing you didn't want to do was annoy a high daylight walker.

"I know," Negi said placatingly. "But this won't be like anything they have seen before. Takamichi says the political situation over there is very tense, and I'm not sure I want to let them become involved in that sort of thing any more than they already are."

"Negi-sensei," Chachamaru said abruptly. "I will accompany you to Mundus Magicus."

Rally quickly spoke up too, her voice soft but resolute. "I will go too."

"You _know_ you couldn't keep me away," Reiko added.

Eva looked amused. "You know you could use them and the power they have, boy." She settled into an even more comfortable, much less formal, and somewhat scandalous position on her cushion.

"I don't know…"

"It looks like you have no choice in the matter. As far as that goes, you could use Akashi Yuuna, the water elemental and her lackeys, and those two from the Shinmeiryu too, if you can drag them away from Kyoto long enough." Eva paused. "And from what I understand, Nagase has trained those two holy terrors, the Narutakis, to quite an extent. Those two would make useful cannon fodder, in any case," she finished, amused at the look on Negi's face at the mention of 'cannon fodder'. "Just mention it to them and you'll probably have a hundred people at your back when you go; an army. You've had enough strong students over the years for it, anyway."

Negi was shaking his head again.

"That's true," Reiko said thoughtfully. "The Birdsong sisters, that mute girl Nelle… you could probably even get Liliana to go, or that yakuza Saga Jin. He owes you after what you did for him two years ago."

"Anyway," Eva said after a moment, "I had Chachamaru compile a list of those I feel are suitable to follow you to the other world for your little fight with that white haired boy." Chachamaru looked slightly confused and opened her mouth to speak, but Eva quickly interrupted her. "You should gather them together and start team training to prepare for what you'll find on the other side. There are two and a half months before summer vacation. You can fit a lot of training into that if you try," she said dryly as she dropped a thick sheaf of papers in front of Negi, who took them curiously and began leafing through, glancing at the reports.

He glanced up after a moment, having paused on a report on Evangeline herself. "Master…?"

"What? Shut up and go, boy. I have things to do," Eva said rudely, crossing her arms and looking away.

'So, Eva-chan wants to go too,' Reiko thought to herself. 'She would definitely be of great use there…'

Negi stood up, and Reiko followed his example. The two excused themselves and exited the room.

A seemingly interminable silence passed before Chachamaru finally spoke up.

"I do not recall preparing such a report. Are you mistaken? The item in question appeared more precisely to be the project you have been working on for the past three point seven—"

"Shut up Chachamaru!"

* * *

With nowhere either one needed to be, Negi and Reiko slowly strolled down the deserted hallways of the club building, looking through the sheaf of papers, pausing now and then on a report that caught their eyes.

"It looks like they spent a lot of time on this," Negi said after a moment. "Though I suspect it was more Master than Chachamaru-san."

Reiko nodded and glanced at her watch. "I've gotta go, Negi. Thanks for the club tour; it was fun," she said.

"Is it another exorcism? You know I don't like you doing those," Negi said as Reiko walked away. Reiko glanced back at him, grinning in amusement, and he sighed. "Be careful, ok? Don't push yourself too hard." Reiko raised her hand and waved lazily, and was soon lost to sight around a corner.

* * *

The next day after finishing roll call, Negi looked over the class with a serious expression.

"Remember everyone, I need your papers signed and returned by tomorrow if you want to go on the class trip next week." He waited for a moment as a round of murmuring followed his announcement. He briefly spotted Sayo-chan in her usual place before she faded from sight again, and couldn't help but feel a little sad for her. She had been stuck here for sixty years after all, watching her classmates grow and mature and move on while she always remained the same…it was just too sad.

The rest of the day went smoothly, filled with lectures and the occasional pop quiz, and the class was reasonably well behaved for once. When the final class of the day ended, Negi set out to visit some of the clubs he hadn't seen the day before.

And so it was that he set out toward the Old Gym with Miyoshi Youko at his side.

* * *

"So sensei, why did you want to see the Kendo Club?" Youko asked, glancing over at the teacher as they walked. As the second tallest student in the class, she was also coincidentally the same height as Negi; an unusual five foot ten. At five foot eleven, only Takahashi Shizuko was taller. 'Speaking of Shi-chan…' Youko thought. The girl would have been a pretty good Yamato Nadeshiko type, if she had only been a foot shorter. In image if not in action, in any case, and if one ignored her chest. And Shi-chan also had an independent streak a mile wide even if she _was_ too quiet…

"Miyoshi-san?"

Youko quickly looked back at Negi, somewhat embarrassed that she had let her mind wander like that. "I'm sorry?"

"I said it's just something I do every year to check up on my students," the teacher said.

Youko nodded. That was understandable.

"How long have you been interested in Kendo, Miyoshi-san?" Negi asked, clearly trying to make her feel comfortable by trying to engage her in conversation.

Youko grinned widely, exposing the tips of her pointed canines. He was trying too hard. "Oh, all my life I guess. It feels like it's been forever," she said.

* * *

Negi looked at his student thoughtfully. That answer had been rather…odd. He paused as she pulled her long hair back and held it with one hand while she stopped walking and searched in her bag with the other, finally coming up with a hair scrunchy, which she used to tie it back in a sloppy ponytail. Then suddenly she was looking at him, her eyes wide open, and his throat went dry.

It was startling; normally, she just seemed to be a playful girl like many others he had taught, but now…

He gulped as she looked at him, her striking pale blue eyes and odd silvery-white hair set off by the dark purple hair scrunchie just visible behind her as the wind blew her ponytail around.

"Be careful sensei. There's something dark in you," she said out of the blue, her expression deadly serious and incredibly ancient.

Negi almost took a step back, but suddenly he was looking at his playful student Miyoshi Youko-san again as she skipped away a short distance down the path before turning around to look at him again.

"Come on, Negi-sensei. I don't want to be _too_ late for the club meeting," she said, grinning at him as if nothing had happened.

* * *

The gym was all but bursting with sound as the club members went through their exercises. Negi, always fascinated by swordplay of any type, watched with rapt attention as the club members went through their katas. After a while, the instructor told the students to divide up into groups of three for sparring practice, with one student to act as the referee while the other two sparred. Negi settled down to watch as the two members from his class, Kondo Kai and Miyoshi Youko, gravitated toward each other and were quickly joined by a third girl he didn't recognize. The three approached and he walked forward to meet him.

Miyoshi gestured to the new girl. "Sensei, this is Shirley. She's from France, her parents moved here for work. Shirley, this is Negi Springfield-sensei. He's from Wales."

"Nice to meet you," the new girl said as she bowed awkwardly.

"Ah, nice to meet you too, Shirley-san," Negi replied graciously. Shirley quickly put her helmet on to hide her blushing face, followed by Youko and Kai.

The first practice match was Kondo Kai vs. Miyoshi Youko, with Shirley as the referee. Kai didn't stand a chance. From the instant the two bowed, Youko became another person, striking Kai with precision and speed, landing the only three hits of the match. Negi had a sneaking suspicion that if she were to remove her kendo helmet at that point, he would again see that serious, ancient face she had shown him earlier.

Shirley put up a better defense in the next match, but even so still never managed to touch Youko.

Finally, in the last match, Kai vs. Shirley, it was a much more even matchup with several lengthy exchanges before the more aggressive Kondo emerged victorious. Negi congratulated the trio on their excellent work, and then excused himself. As much as he might like to, he couldn't spend the rest of the afternoon here; it wouldn't be fair to the other students.

* * *

Endo Haru was riding her bicycle a little too fast on one of the bike paths when she shot around a blind corner and almost ran over Negi, who just managed to jump aside at the last second. Haru, unable to regain the bike's balance, swerved off the path, hit a log, and got a face full of dirt when she was dumped over the handlebars.

"Endo-san! Are you all right?" Negi cried out as he ran over to the fallen student.

Endo rolled over on her back and sat up, looking up at Negi sheepishly. "Eh heh…sorry about that, sensei," she said as he helped her up. She winced at the sight of her scraped knee.

"Endo-san, you must go to the nurse's office, come with me," Negi said as he pulled out a handkerchief and started wiping dirt from the girl's face while she blushed furiously.

Haru quickly shied away and pulled her bike upright. "Don't worry sensei, I'll go by myself. I know you have more important things to do," she said as she pulled out a bandaid and put it on her knee. "I'm the club health officer, after all," she said, grinning crookedly as if amused at some secret joke.

"Endo-san…aren't there any others in the Cycling Club with you?" Negi asked worriedly as he looked around. Normally, outdoors clubs tended to stick together; it was troubling to see a student participating in club actions alone.

Haru looked away again, adopting the sheepish look from a moment before. "Well…er…not really?" She saw the conflicted look on his face and plunged ahead. "But it's fine though! See, there are other people in the club," she said, showing him the club member sheet. Sure enough, there were five names on it.

"Really?" Negi said, raising an eyebrow as he looked at her.

Haru looked away awkwardly. "Okay, so they never showed up past the second meeting…but that's okay! I get to ride around all over the place and nobody can say anything because it's a club thing," she said, embarrassed at her attempt to beat the system.

"Endo-san…"

"Well, I'm off! See you in class, Negi-sensei!" Haru called out as she pedaled away far too rapidly for Negi's liking.

He watched her go for a moment, sighed, and headed for the club building.

* * *

The wonderful aroma of a baking cake greeted Negi's nose as he opened the door of the Cooking Club's room.

"Oh that smells delicious, what are you baking?" Negi asked one of the club members, a mousy girl with glasses.

The girl just gaped at him for a moment, entranced, before she remembered where she was. "That would be Yoshida-san's chocolate cake, sensei," she said, pointing toward the other end of the room, where several club members were gathered around an oven while another reached in with oven mitts. Negi recognized his students Mochizuki Kagami and Yoshida Ume, who was currently removing a cake from the oven.

He thanked the girl and joined the group around the oven; he waited until Ume had placed the cake on the counter before he spoke. "Hello, Yoshida-san, Mochizuki-san."

Ume turned beet red and couldn't make herself look at him, but Kagami had better control than that. "Hello sensei. Is…is something wrong? I mean…" she said as her speech trailed off into confusion.

The other club members, meanwhile, had backed away in awe as one of the best looking teachers in the city looked at Mochizuki-san with a small smile that sent their hearts racing.

'That's unfair!' Kagami thought frantically. 'He shouldn't be allowed to smile like that!' "Wh-wh-what is it, sensei?" she asked as he looked back and forth between her and Yoshida-san.

"That cake smells amazing," Negi said. "Who made it?"

Kagami pointed shakily to Ume, who was industriously doing…something…to the oven mitts. Tying them in knots, possibly, from the way she was twisting them.

Ume squeaked, 'She actually _squeaked_!' Kagami thought to herself, when Negi turned his attention toward the shorter girl. "Y-yes, sensei?"

"Tell me, did this come from a mix, or did you make it from scratch?" Negi asked, interested.

Ume seemed to forget her nervousness and brightened up in an instant. "I made it from scratch. I don't believe in using those mixes when you have the proper ingredients present," she said, suddenly standing firm and completely forgetting her prior nervousness now that she was in familiar territory.

"Oh, that is admirable," Negi said, smiling at her. "I can see uses for them however, for those occasions in which you are short on time, or—"

"It's lazy," Ume insisted as she frowned. "If you wait until you're short on time, you just should have started earlier, that's all." She quickly set off into a speech about responsibility and the lack of it that continued until Negi pointed out that she should have begun the icing by this point. The poor girl immediately regained her previous shade of red and set about mixing up the icing.

"Please let me have some when you are finished," Negi said, waving as he exited the room.

* * *

"Wow, you two sure are lucky to have _him_ as your teacher," one of the club members said to Ume and Kagami. Kagami went red, but Ume, again in baking mode, only looked confused.

"What do you mean?"

"Well he's so cute, you know? And cool. Really, really cool!" the girl gushed.

Ume went red again.

* * *

Negi next visited Suzuki Keiko in the Pottery Club, only to find them packing up for an early dismissal.

"I'm sorry, sensei," Keiko said apologetically. "Maybe you can come some other time…?"

"Okay Keiko-san. See you in class tomorrow."

After that, he tried the Photography Club, the Astronomy Club, and the Fortune Telling Club, but all of them were already empty or just letting out for the day. A quick glance at his watch showed him that all but the Library Club would be finished for the day. "I must have spent too much time at the Kendo Club…," he said aloud as he exited the building on his way to the library.

He didn't get far before he ran into Kondo Kai, from the Kendo Club, who was carrying a shinai bag. "Hello Negi-kun!" she said cheerfully. "I'm going to the Rock Club. Want to come with me?"

"The Rock Club? I thought all the clubs were done for the day?" Negi asked, mentally sighing at her use of 'Negi-kun' to address her teacher.

"Well…they agreed to meet up later in the day so I could do my kendo thing," she explained as she self consciously touched the two balls of hair on her head. It was an odd style, certainly; though Negi had seen it here and there in the past; the Narutaki twins had favored it. Unlike most others he had seen with that hairstyle, however, Kondo-san placed them further forward, just behind the center line of her head.

He realized she was looking at him and met her eyes for a moment. The sheer _greenness_ of them was startling. "Do you wear contacts, Kondo-san?" he asked before he realized he had opened his mouth.

Kai looked startled for a moment, then her seemingly eternal grin returned. "Yup. My vision's really bad without 'em. I can barely see at all if I don't wear my contacts."

"Oh," Negi said. They walked side by side down the path in silence while Negi looked around. It seemed the Rock Club met in one of the old, rarely used buildings that were fairly common all over the campus. After a moment, he brought up something that had been bothering him since watching the Kendo Club meeting earlier. "Kondo-san, is Miyoshi-san always like that when sparring?" The white haired girl had been frightening, to say the least.

The blonde beside him shook her head and waved her hand carelessly. "No way. Usually, she's even more laid back than _I_ am. I think she was just showing off for sensei," she said. "She's really good though; I didn't know she was that good. I can usually at least get a point or two off of her."

Negi thought about that as they continued on in silence until she led him into a deserted building that was normally used for storage.

"Kondo-san…?" Negi asked, suddenly looking around warily as a scary thought crossed his mind. Surely she wasn't going to…it had been attempted several times over the past few years, but Kondo-san didn't seem the type to try and…

"It's on the third floor," Kai said cheerfully as she took his hand in a vicelike grip. "Come on, you'll like it!"

* * *

The Rock Club met in a large room that might once have been a science lab, but had long ago had its equipment and tables removed.

"You guys! How could you start without me? And how dare you use a drum track? You _know_ how I feel about that!" Kondo-san shouted as she threw the door open and pulled Negi inside.

The music, except for the pre-recorded drum track, came to a discordant stop as the three occupants turned to face the newcomers.

"It's your fault for being late, Kondo-san," the American girl, Kara Stride, said as she put her bass guitar on a stand.

Negi found himself staring. While just about anyone would say his students were attractive (and who was he to argue?), Kara-san, in her street clothes, awoke something deep in every man, some primal urge to ensure the continuation of the species. Perhaps a dozen kids to start off with…see where we go from there? She wasn't quite beautiful, it was just some…some inexplicable _thing_ that he couldn't name, that brought up this response in just about everyone, even some women, if the stories he had heard from the other teachers were true. He had thought it was just baseless rumors rather than actual warnings, at least until now. Irritating hormones... He forced himself to think of kittens, and when that didn't work, he thought of little old ladies. When _that_ didn't work, he thought of infected boils and gangrenous limbs. That one did the trick. He realized the others were talking.

"Oooohhh, it was Kendo-san's fault," Kai said, pouting as she pressed the stop button on the CD player someone had placed on the seat behind her drum set.

"Yeah, blame the Kendo coach for everything," someone said sarcastically while Kai grinned.

"Hello everyone," Negi said belatedly, carefully avoiding Kara-san as he gave the room a good once over. All the members but Kondo-san were wearing their street clothes now; the effect was decidedly 'Punk'. As for the room itself, the floor was still marked with light colored spots where lab tables had been previously, and the walls were lined with cheap sound-deadening materials in a manner that suggested these girls had done most of the work themselves.

This was probably an illegal club.

"Hello, Negi-sensei," Watanabe Miyako said. She was always quiet and well behaved in class; he had no idea she was in a band. She didn't fit the image at all; shy, messy blue hair, big green eyes that constantly gave one the impression that she was surprised… Not to mention the fact that she wasn't carrying an instrument.

"What do you play, Watanabe-san?" Negi asked kindly. He always felt the need to be especially careful with her, lest he hurt her feelings somehow and make her cry. She sort of reminded him of Nodoka when they first met in that way, though she didn't seem to actually be _afraid_ of him.

"I…I just sing," she said, shuffling her feet as she looked at the others for help.

"Yeah, none of the rest of us can sing at all. You should have heard us practicing, our singing is worse than her guitar playing, and that's saying a _lot_," Kobayashi Ayumi, the guitarist, said. An energetic girl with a temper to match her bright red hair, she was one of the loudest students in his class, and one of the most popular as well. She also had quite a following among the younger students, if Negi remembered correctly.

"We're trying to teach Miya-chan how to play guitar so we can do more complex music, but it's slow going," Ayumi said, slinging an arm around Miyako's neck and ruffling her hair. Kara and Kai nodded while Miyako just looked embarrassed.

"Is it just the four of you?" Negi asked when Ayumi had released Miyako and everyone was settled down again.

"Yup, just us," Ayumi replied cheerfully as she picked up her guitar again. It was only me an' Kai-chan here for a long time until Kara joined up last year and Miya-chan a month ago. Wanna hear us play?" she asked.

"Yes, I would love to," Negi said politely as he took a seat. "What kind of music do you play?"

"Rock and punk, mostly. Maybe the occasional pop song for something different," Kai said as she settled in behind the drum set and produced a pair of drumsticks from nowhere.

Any further discussion was cut short as Kara-san began plucking out a familiar bassline and the others joined in.

Negi smiled slightly at the familiar song; it was a Beatles song he had always enjoyed, though he had never heard this particular song sung by a teenage girl before. Miyako-san did quite well, her pronunciation was very good. Now, if only he could convince her to try so hard in English class…

They finished and settled back to catch his reaction.

"That was very good," Negi said, clapping. "Have you entered any competitions yet?" In fact, they were much better than any amateur band he had been exposed to since Dekopin Rocket. To see these girls in class, it was quite a surprise that they were this good together.

Ayumi and Kai looked at each other. "Well…" Ayumi said. "Our first competition will be in the eleventh annual Battle of the Bands next month. We still need a lot of practice if we want to have any chance of winning there."

"Is it a big competition then?" Negi asked, his curiosity piqued. Honestly, he had had no idea such a competition even _existed_, much less had continued to exist for eleven years.

"Yes, Ayumi-san's idols will be there," Kara offered while Negi carefully looked at a space twelve inches to the right and six inches above her face. "I think they're called 'Dekopin Rocket', or something like that?" she said, looking to Ayumi for clarification.

"Oh!" Negi said suddenly, drawing everyone's attention. "They used to be my students!" He was unprepared for the startled looks everyone shot him.

"You…you're talking about Dekopin Rocket, right? Kakizaki Misa, Kugimiya Madoka, Izumi Ako, and Shiina Sakurako, right? Right?" Ayumi asked, suddenly clutching the collar of Negi's shirt.

"Er…yes?"

"Can you introduce me? I've been a fan of theirs forever! Ever since I saw them play at the big festival. You remember, right Kai? You were there," Ayumi asked the drummer, who nodded. "They were amazing!" Ayumi gushed.

"Sure, I can introduce you to them," Negi said desperately as he tried to unlatch Ayumi's hands from the collar of his shirt. It was starting to get hard to breathe. Ayumi backed off, her expression one of wonder as she wandered around the room for a moment.

"Oh thank you thankyouthankyouthankyou~!" Ayumi squealed suddenly as she tackle-hugged the poor teacher to the floor and gave him a big sloppy kiss on the cheek.

Negi, not knowing where to put his hands, settled for sticking them out to the sides. "Um…You're welcome?"

* * *

_**Author's Notes**: And here we have the introduction of some of the clubs and various students. No action this chapter, unless you consider quickly glossed over sparring matches and Negi getting tackle-hugged by an attractive girl 'action'. I meant to get this one out yesterday, but I ran into some problems (FFN's automatic logout after three days) and lost all my editing, so I had to do the whole thing again. Okay, enough whining. This time I'm including profiles for students 6, 16, and 27; Watanabe Miyako, Kara Stride, and Kondo Kai, three of the four members of the Rock Club, which has slipped through the cracks so to speak, overshadowed by the many, many other clubs. Next chapter will probably be up Thursday or Friday.  
_

* * *

Watanabe Miyako - Student number 6

Born - 9/30/1994

Height - 5'3"

Rock Club

Likes: Music, singing

Dislikes: Her awkwardness, embarrassing situations, big crowds

Roommates: Kobayashi Ayumi, Rosemary Dean

Little Known Facts: She is actually a huge geek who likes to watch kung fu movies.

* * *

Kara Stride - Student number 16

Born - 10/31/1994

Height - 5'6"

Rock club

Likes: Music, cars with big engines, motorcycles

Dislikes: Fashion crazy people

Roommate: Possum Cade

Little Known Facts: She has a deeply hidden girly side. She is also very good at playing the flute, but now hides this fact out of embarrassment.

* * *

Kondo Kai - Student number 27

Born - 12/5/1994

Height - 5'5"

Rock Club, Kendo Club

Likes: Music, drums, bubble wrap

Dislikes: Greedy people, cats

Roommate: Mori Kumiko

Little Known Facts: She has terrible eyesight due to some minor albinism and wears green contacts to hide her pink eyes.


	10. Ch 8 Preparations

**Still Waters 3, Chapter 8, Preparations  
**

* * *

_I see her seated on a great seat made of bones, wearing the demon horn crown. She is a ruler, and her subjects stand around the base of her seat, facing all comers and coming away victorious. She has some mysterious power over them, and they happily obey her every order. She holds so much power, and she doesn't even realize its meaning or the role she will play._

From a series of visions regarding Abe Aiko, S. Dream Journal

* * *

_Friday, April 24th, 2009_

* * *

After roll call, Negi made the announcement he had been dreading. "I regret to inform you, but due to an outbreak of swine flu, our class trip to Okinawa has been canceled." The class immediately erupted into noise as the girls grumbled and complained about how they had been looking forward to the beaches of Okinawa, and how much they had spent on new clothes and bathing suits and the like.

Negi let them go on for a moment to get it out of their systems before he continued. "Due to this and several other factors, it has been decided that we will be going to Kyoto instead." The grumbling slowed, but didn't stop. Well…that was to be expected. You couldn't dangle a southern island in front of a teenage girl and then replace it at the last moment with a place like Kyoto without expected _some_ grumbling. In fact, Negi himself had been looking forward to the Okinawa trip; they had gone to Kyoto every year since he arrived in Mahora, and he had been ready for a change. Then again, he had been more than a little worried about seeing these girls in Okinawa. In bathing suits. He glanced up at them, carefully skipping Kara-san (a dozen kids, plus or minus three, see where we go from there/no no no no that's bad, don't think such things she's just a kid/don't worry, she's only a little younger than you/no she's not and besides I'm her teacher I can't just—/a dozen kids and see where we go from—) Negi quickly cut off that line of thought and felt the need for a cold shower. And then another with boiling water where he could scrub his skin raw. He felt dirty. Some of these girls…he offered up a silent prayer to whomever might be listening thanking them for the fact that he didn't have to deal with seeing this class on the beach in Okinawa. A cold sweat broke out on his forehead as his traitorous mind dropped another bombshell on him: Kara Stride in all her glory on the beach in a stringy little thing that barely covered—

"Well! I'm sure this is for the best!" Negi declared in a strangled voice as he abruptly sat down in his chair. 'Okay, enough acting like this,' he told himself. 'You are a responsible teacher, not just a random eighteen year old who's never had a real girlfriend before. Right? Right.' Well…only eighteen if one counted the time spent in Eva's resort…or was it nineteen now? And the girlfriend thing was true too, he admitted reluctantly, though there had been a moment in Tibet when he had pushed Nodoka out of the way of some falling rocks, and it seemed as if they had almost…boils. Boils and gangrenous limbs. Yes, yes.

Negi sighed in relief, smoothed his hair back out of his eyes while half the class swooned, and took a quick drink from his water bottle. Good. Better.

He took another look at the class as the grumbling and complaints spawned by his announcement died down, and noticed one of the students in the front row seemed particularly upset.

"Abe-san? Is something wrong?" he asked.

Abe Aiko was a rather plain girl, all around average except for her short height. She was usually cheerful and talkative, so seeing her with a frown and her arms crossed like that was most unusual.

"Eh? Oh, no, sorry sensei," she said, obviously lying.

"Okay then, if you are sure," Negi said. She obviously didn't want to talk about it with _him, _and there was no point in forcing the issue in front of everyone... He turned his attention to the rest of the class. "Okay everyone! Please remember to repack your bags for Kyoto. We will be leaving early Monday morning, so please be at the station on time. Any questions? No? Okay, dismissed."

When class finally let out, Aiko took her bag and quickly left the classroom. Her roommate, Yamamoto Kimi, followed her.

"Aiko? What's wrong? You usually stick around to listen to the gossip after class."

Aiko glanced at her and shrugged. "It's nothing. I just have some distant family in Kyoto I don't want to meet." She took out her digital camera and began cycling through the pictures as she walked. It was relaxing, and she was quite good at photography if she said so herself. Sleeping Negi-Sensei Under A Tree.

"That's a good one," Kimi said, glancing over at the picture as she strolled alongside her. Aiko grunted something unintelligible and went on to the next picture. Kamo-kun Stealing Underwear. It brought a smile to her face; the teacher's pet ermine was so cute, even if he _was_ an underwear thief. Though how he managed to consistently find his way all the way across campus to the girls' dorm was a mystery...

"I like this one more," Aiko said, holding the camera so Kimi could see. "Or this one," she said, moving on to another, more recent picture. Dark Skinned Pale Haired Foreigner With Birds. The woman spent a lot of time around the World Tree, and Aiko had snapped this picture one sunny day last week when several small birds had suddenly flown down and landed on the woman's head and hands. It was a very nice picture.

"Yes." Kimi shifted her bag from one shoulder to the other as they walked. She glanced up at the sky and smiled a little; it was a beautiful day, far too nice for her friend to waste moping around. She herself had to meet up with the Library Club later, but…she could probably blow off the meeting. She didn't like to do things like that, but her friend was in need, and that was more important. "We should do karaoke again, we haven't done that since September."

Aiko smiled absently. "That sounds fun."

* * *

Possum Cade strolled along, humming an old Led Zeppelin song and singing occasional snatches of it as she swung her schoolbag.

"Hey, what are you so happy about?" Taro asked as she came up from behind.

"Nothing much. Just that I don't have to go to Okinawa," Possum replied. She switched to another song and raised her voice. "_Hey hey mama said the way you move, gonna make you sweat, gonna make you groove," _complete with a swishy little dance that drew concerned looks from passersby.

Taro just laughed. "You know, someone's gonna call the police on you one of these days."

"_All I ask for when I pray, a steady loaded woman gonna come my way," _Possum replied, louder than before.

"Hey now Whiskey, that's not really appropriate, you know?"

Both girls jerked to a sudden stop and turned to face the speaker.

"Sorry Max-sensei."

"Sorry sensei."

"Don't worry about it. Besides," Max said, bending down to their level and whispering conspiratorially. "I'm pretty sure it's 'steady rollin woman' rather than 'steady loaded woman'." He straightened up and stepped back. "At least keep it down on campus, ok? When you hit the city, knock yourselves out. Just don't get arrested." He put his hands in his pockets and strolled away, leaving the two girls confused.

"That was…unexpected," Possum said.

"…was he hitting on you?" Taro asked after a moment.

"Scary Max-sensei? No way. He's just clueless about that stuff I think. You've seen him with Youko and the class rep, right? Completely clueless."

"'Scary Max-sensei'? What's with that?" Taro asked. While she wouldn't put it past some teachers to flirt with their students, she had a feeling that the P.E. teacher was far too incompetent in that sort of thing. But this 'Scary Max-sensei' stuff...rarely did a teacher get a nickname like that.

"It's what the girls all call him," Possum said dismissively. It seemed silly and stupid to her, but it was kinda amusing too. "Stupid isn't it?"

"Yeah," Taro said. She knew all about that sort of thing. With nicknames like 'Death Glasses Takahata' or 'The Ace of Spades', Mahora had more than its fair share of silly nicknames. In fact, her own nickname of 'The Street Sweeper' brought her quite of a bit of horrified amusement every time it came up in conversation.

They walked in silence for a while.

"Wanna play some games later?" Taro asked suddenly. She had the dubious honor of being the only student in the class with her own dorm room, due to a history of intimidating irritating roommates. While it was nice to not have to deal with a stupid airhead of a roommate and she could go in or out at will and even leave the room a total mess without worrying about complaints, it could get pretty lonely at times.

"Sure. Got anything new?"

Taro nodded. "Kanako-nee sent me a new one, it's called Melty Blood."

"Sounds promising," Possum said. "You're gonna have to introduce me to this Kanako girl you're always talking about someday, you know?"

Taro grinned. "Sure thing, you two would get along great."

* * *

Rally Wheeler remained crouched down behind the bushes, listening as her classmates' voices died away.

"Melty Blood," she said experimentally. Classmate Urashima Taro-san had said it was a game, though she had not specified type. Most troubling. "Melty Blood," she said again.

"Bbrraow?" the cat she had been feeding for her onee-chan said as it looked up at her. Rally very carefully reached down and rubbed its head, then stood up straight and looked at her two classmates as they walked away. Hakase had told her to make friends in class this year. Maybe she could become friends with these two? She stepped carefully through the bushes and out into the street, and set off after them at a sedate pace.

* * *

Negi looked up from his desk where he was gathering his papers, as Takahata stepped through the open doorway.

"Hello, Takamichi," Negi said as he removed the class roster from his briefcase to make room for the stack of test papers he would have to grade later. "What brings you here today?"

"Hello, Negi," Takahata replied as he approached the desk. "May I?" he asked, gesturing toward the class roster.

"Sure."

Takahata grinned slightly as he took up the roster and flipped it open with a long practiced motion and quickly scanned the faces of Negi's students. "Somehow, I am not surprised," he said to himself.

"Hmm?" Negi asked, looking up at the other teacher, pausing in his struggle to snap the overfilled briefcase shut.

"Nothing," Takahata said as he returned the class roster to the desktop. "Are you busy today?"

Negi struggled with the briefcase for a moment more before he finally managed to squeeze it shut. "I'm afraid so; I was planning on finishing my club visits today," he said as he stood back and wiped some sweat from his forehead. For a moment there, he had begun to wonder if everything would fit...

"Club visits?"

"Yes," Negi said, grinning crookedly. It was no secret that he enjoyed visiting his students during their club meetings immensely; for Negi, it was one of the highlights of the school year, right up there with getting a new class. "I only have a few left. I was planning to visit the Library Club, the Fortune Telling Club, and the Pottery Club today; Care to join me?"

Takahata shook his head. "No thanks, I only have a moment. I just wanted to clear up something about the class trip next week." He put his hands in his pockets, fingering the note Chisame had sent him earlier, and frowned thoughtfully before looking back at Negi. "You should visit Eishun-san. He is not doing very well," he said uncomfortably. Takahata frowned slightly; it was hard to think of Eishun not doing well, but according to the note from Chisame, he likely wouldn't last out the year. Now how could she know that...? He would be visiting him as well without a doubt; he always did when in Kyoto. But why had Chisame seen fit to send him this note, practically begging him to ask Negi to visit Eishun? What did she know about his old friend? _How_ did she know? He pushed those troubling thoughts aside and focused on his young friend, who was now speaking. "I'm sorry?"

"Oh, I just said I was already planning on visiting the Konoe estate on the final day," Negi replied as he hefted the overfilled briefcase experimentally. He let out a sigh of relief; the briefcase's latches would hold. "I'm sure he will be fine, he's a tough old coot," Negi said as he picked up the class roster and put it under one arm.

Takahata grinned at the young teacher's words. A 'tough old coot'... that could describe himself as well. He closed his eyes and let out a small amused noise, then looked at Negi. "Good luck with your club visits. I have an appointment with the Headmaster. Goodbye," he said as he raised a hand in a lazy wave, which Negi returned in kind.

"Goodbye, Takamichi!"

* * *

Negi looked at the class roster thoughtfully as he strolled down one of the hallways of the club building, half-noticing an amused looking girl in a witch's hat and robe and an infectious grin looking at him as she leaned against the wall. He smiled back at her, and she nodded at him as he continued past. 'No doubt a member of the occult club,' he thought to himself as he scanned the room numbers. The occult club had become enormous in the past five or six years, without a doubt due to the vastly increased rate of what had been unofficially classified by the faculty as 'unusual incidents'; events such as ghost sightings, mysterious glowing lights, people having sword fights outside in the middle of the night, people jumping from rooftop to rooftop or even flying...oh, and the occasional unidentified 'animal'. The campus had certainly become busy.

"Ah, there it is," Negi said aloud as he spotted the room he had been looking for. He stood before the door for a moment straightening his tie, then entered.

* * *

The Pottery Club met in a fairly large room on the ground floor. Several students glanced up at him as he entered, and one unfortunately lost control of the bowl she was trying to form on her pottery wheel.

"Argh...! Not again! That's the third time today..."

The club president, an otherwise unremarkable girl with severe features quickly made her way over. "Excuse me, can I help you?" she asked, slight annoyance coming through her otherwise polite tone.

Negi nodded as he spotted the student he had come to visit. "Ah yes, I am here today to see how my student is doing," he said, giving the president a winning smile.

The girl staggered back under his attention and mumbled something, gesturing for him to go ahead.

Negi left the president behind and walked over to the pottery wheel his student Suzuki Keiko was seated behind. "Hello, Suzuki-kun."

"Hello, sensei," Suzuki Keiko said quietly as she concentrated on bringing up the top of the vase she was working on. "What brings you to the Pottery Club?" she asked idly a moment later.

"It's just my yearly club visits," he replied, watching in fascination as she shaped the clay. It was very strange to watch, as if the clay simply came alive under the potter's hand, changing shape seemingly at random until suddenly it was a bowl or a vase or a cup. He had never seen a potter in action before; it was quite interesting.

Keiko finished the vase and carefully removed it from the wheel. Negi reached down and gently prodded a lump of clay that had been left on the wheel while she placed the vase in the drying area.

Finally, she stood opposite Negi. "Can I help you, sensei?"

Negi looked at the lump of clay as he rolled it between thumb and forefinger for a moment before turning his attention back to the student. "It's just my yearly club visit. You are quite good, Suzuki-kun. Have you been making pottery long?"

Keiko shuffled her feet awkwardly for a moment. "No sensei, just since I entered the middle school..." Her attention drifted back to the potter's wheel, so she started cleaning it.

* * *

Keiko tried to calm her racing heart as she wiped down the potter's wheel for lack of anything to do with her hands, which she had no doubt would be trembling in her teacher's presence if she didn't find something to occupy them.

"So what do you like about the club, Suzuki-kun?" the teacher asked, smiling pleasantly at her in a way that made her heart flutter.

"It's..." Keiko started, then paused. How could she put it so that he would understand? How could one describe the sheer wonder inherent in the act of creating something new? The potential of a lump of fresh clay on the potter's wheel, the joy of seeing it take shape in your hands...? That indescribable feeling in the pit of your stomach when, after all the glazing and firing and that torturous wait until it was time to remove it from the kiln, you finally saw your finished piece of art on display...? And it _was_ an art form; she had been in the club long enough to see that. How could she put all of those feelings into words her teacher would understand?

He was smiling at her again.

Keiko shut her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. 'He's only a teacher, his smile doesn't matter,' she thought to herself as she turned her attention back to her teacher. She locked eyes with him and began to speak.

"It's creating something new," she said, meeting his gaze and holding it. "Going from this," she said, gesturing to a nearby box of clay, "to this," she said, gesturing at a nearby rack of finished products. "Changing the clay into something beautiful and useful, it's just..." she trailed off and abruptly turned away as the way he was smiling finally got to her. "It's...it's just amazing," she finished lamely as she picked up a towel and began wiping off her hands.

* * *

Negi quietly shut the club room door as he exited the room fifteen minutes later, thoughts of Suzuki-kun's speech running through his mind. The feelings she had described...it was a lot like the way he used to feel about magic. It had been _years_ since he had last felt that way though; the wonder he had once felt had long ago been beaten back and drowned out by the necessity of constant training and the drive to improve. He had succeeded in that, far beyond anything he had ever dared to imagine in his younger days in fact, but at what cost...? He thought about Kamo-kun, his longtime friend and familiar, off again doing research for him. It had gotten to the point where Kamo-kun spent more time away than at home, not to mention his old students...most of the class he had gotten to know as 2-A and later 3-A back in 2003 had based their lives around his. Yuuna, Asuna, Konoka and Setsuna and all the others...Nodoka and Yue. Nodoka and Yue in particular had put off what would have become spectacular careers simply for his sake. Some of the others had started their own careers; Misa, Madoka, Sakurako, and Ako had started a band, for instance, though they were so good they should have already hit it big by this point, when they were still doing shows at bars. Were they and the others really holding off on success for his sake? It was a sobering thought.

His mind worked back around to Suzuki-kun's hesitant, somewhat embarrassed words again. He had been surprised to feel an inkling of those old feelings of wonder while exploring the ruins in Tibet, but...did he really have the right to use his old students-his friends-in such a way? Eva had suggested that he bring _everyone_ with him to Mundus Magicus when he went this summer, but was that really fair to them? What about what they wanted? What about-

"You look troubled...is it love? Here, why don't you come in and let me tell you your fortune."

Negi was jerked from his introspection as someone grabbed his wrist and pulled him into one a room. He looked at the offending student and recognized her as the girl wearing the witch hat from earlier. "I'm sorry, but I really must be going..." he said, carefully masking his annoyance at the utter lack of respect she was showing.

"Nonsense! Something's bothering you, and this is the best way to get to the bottom of it!" she said, glancing back at him and making a catlike grin. "Now come on, just sit down right here and let the Fortune Telling Club take care of it. Mari! Hey, Mari!" the girl yelled, then disappeared behind a curtain.

Negi let out a long-suffering sigh as he sat in his uncomfortable wooden chair at a small table and gave his surroundings a good look. It was obviously one of the club rooms, but the club members had hung up thick curtains to split the room in half and again into booths; the curtains were very heavy, made of dark blue or purple cloth, and had homemade foil moons and stars stuck to them. There were several magic circles here and there, but none of them were 'real' magic circles, something he found oddly relieving. He heard someone searching for something on the other side of the curtain, shuffling through objects in a box, perhaps. His mood had gone so sour by this point due to his own self-loathing that he contemplated just leaving even though he had been planning on visiting this club today, but then the witch hat girl came through the curtain again with a very old ouija board under one arm. He caught a glimpse of a design drawn on the bottom of it and his eyes widened. Someone had drawn a magic circle there, a _real_ one...! He sighed again and began massaging his temples. Great, this was _just_ what he needed, another club full of amateur mages to break up...

"So!" the girl said as she smacked the heavy wooden board down on the table between them and took a seat. "I'm Kotobuki Minami, the president of the Fortune Telling Club. Nice ta meetcha! Here!" she said, producing an ancient planchette on a chain around her neck. She opened the small clasp that kept it on the chain and placed it on the board, looking at him expectantly.

Negi decided to humor her and placed his fingers on the planchette. "Hello Kotobuki-san. My name is Negi Springfield." Kotobuki-san smiled prettily at him, and he couldn't help but grin a little 'I might as well get this over with...' he thought, disgusted at himself for his cynical thoughts, but was startled back to attention by the almost minuscule surge of magic when she touched the planchette. So, the girl had some power... The effect was utterly destroyed for him when the lights in the room dimmed and the strategically placed fake candles he had failed to notice earlier lit up to provide an eerie glow, and he realized someone had silently pulled the curtain shut across the entrance of the booth behind him. No doubt it would have had a normal student utterly spellbound, but the special effects, while actually quite well done, were simply the sort of thing the average person expected in this sort of situation and weren't realistic at all.

"So...what would you like to know?" Kotobuki asked, her voice low and husky.

'No doubt to help set the mood,' he thought cynically. Now, for something to ask that this girl would know nothing about... He grinned ruefully. "Will Sayo be able to go on the class trip?"

Kotobuki raised an eyebrow as she looked at him, but shook her head and focused on the planchette, which began to vibrate and then slid across the board with startling speed.

"The spirits say 'No'," she said, meeting his gaze from just under the brim of her witch hat.

"Oh..." Negi replied as he tried to think of another question. "Then, where can I find a magician?" he asked, startling himself with the question. The planchette vibrated again, and the girl across from him let a frown show on her face for an instant as the pointer slipped out from under her fingers.

"The spirits say 'Here'," she said, giving him a reproachful look as she reclaimed the tool. Then, she jerked her hands away from the board and jumped out of her chair, Negi only an instant slower.

Negi just looked at the board for a moment. Something...hadn't felt right. Had it been black magic? It was sort of...slimy, and made him feel unclean in a way he couldn't explain. He tugged at the collar of his shirt and loosened his tie a little. Why was it so stuffy in here...?

"Uh...hey, are you okay? You look kind of pale..." Kotobuki said, all the spooky slyness gone from her expression. She glanced back down at the still-vibrating planchette and shouted toward the curtain behind her "Hey Mari! Turn the lights back on!"

The lights flicked back on, he could see the light through the pinholes in the curtains, but the booth remained dark, and Negi found that he was unable to speak.

The girl stood there a moment, gaping at him as his mouth opened and closed like a fish. "Uh, hey, if you're faking it's okay to stop now," she said as she took a hesitant step toward him.

Negi, however, was staring out into space, his mouth still working. "Uh, hey...hey!" she said as she touched his arm and immediately jerked her hand away. She shivered and cringed back. So...so _gross_! The sensation wasn't unlike the time her cousin had dared her to hold a giant slug. She went for the curtain to pull it open, but couldn't seem to get a grip on it. "Hey Mari! You better not be messing with me in here!" she shouted, but there was no reply.

"It is almost time," a young woman's voice said dreamily, and the girl whirled around to face Negi again.

"Time for what?" she asked warily.

"Time for Fire and Flood and Wind and Lightning and Frost and Avalanche and Growth and Cleansing and Light and Shadow," the voice said again from Negi's mouth in an odd lilting manner. "It is time for Storm."

"O...kay," Kotobuki said as she backed away to the curtains again and felt for the spot where two curtains came together behind her.

"Almost time..." the voice said again, more quietly, and then Kotobuki found the edge of a curtain and yanked it open so hard it almost came down on top of her. Light flooded into the booth and she heard Negi gasp behind her, and saw the other two members of the club, Ono Ran and Mari Nichols, standing there, though only Mari looked worried. Ran, instead, simply gave her a sad, knowing look and entered the booth.

"Hey, I don't think you should do that," Kotobuki said, but Ran ignored her and went to Negi's chair, where he sat with a stunned expression on his face, breathing heavily and staring down at his hands as if seeing them for the first time.

"Greetings, sensei," she said.

Negi swallowed a lump in his throat and looked up at her. "H-hello, Ono-san..."

"Have you come to visit my club today?" she asked, her utterly normal tone going far toward helping him regain his sense of reality. What had just _happened_? One moment he had been trying to loosen his collar, almost in the next the curtain had been thrown open and he felt drained and what he could only describe as _oily_...

"Ah...y-yes, yes I did," he replied, trying to fix his tie with shaking hands, her odd pale green eyes holding his gaze firmly. Somehow it was reassuring, and he felt his heart rate returning to normal even as he spoke. "What exactly...happened?" he asked as his gaze drifted over the contents of the booth again. It was just a cheap table and a couple of wooden chairs, with an old, badly worn ouija board and planchette. He stood up and leaned on the table for a moment for support.

"It's not important," the girl replied as she caught his gaze again, and he realized she was right.

"I'm sorry Ono-san, I think I need to leave a little early," he said as he stepped shakily out of the booth and headed for the door.

"I understand. Perhaps some other time, sensei?" she asked.

Negi nodded as he opened the door and stepped outside.

* * *

The three girls in the club room stood in silence for a moment after the teacher left.

"Okay, what in the _hell_ was THAT all about?" Kotobuki demanded as she whirled on the other two. Mari still looked terrified, but Ran had already turned back to the book she had been reading earlier. "I'm talking to you, Ran! You know what happened, don't you?"

Ran just glanced at Mari and Kotobuki sighed irritably. She knew Ran well enough by now to know that she sometimes _knew_ things, and often refused to answer questions or perform tasks until some condition had been met. Kotobuki didn't understand it, but she knew Ran wouldn't answer her questions until she talked to Mari. "So, what happened?" she asked the other girl.

"Y-you two just went in there like normal and after a minute everything went, well, _slimy_," Mari said, finishing up with a shudder.

Kotobuki shuddered too; she knew _exactly_ what Mari was talking about. "So...did you guys hear anything?"

Mari shook her head, but Ran looked up at her. "'Time for Storm', wasn't it?" she asked, then looked back down at her book.

Kotobuki stood there for a moment, her fists propped on her hips, contemplating the girl. It wasn't for no reason that Ono Ran was considered one of the creepiest people in the whole school. When Kotobuki had first roped her into joining the club, it had simply been an effort to differentiate the failing Fortune Telling Club from the more popular Occult Club, but it had worked far better than she could ever have imagined. Ran's mere presence was enough to lend the room a spooky air, and her fortunetelling was almost always spot-on. So spot-on, in fact, that Kotobuki had taken to intercepting customers before they got to her, simply to keep them from hearing things they wouldn't want to hear. One thing was clear: whatever she had expected to find in Ono Ran, whether simply a misunderstood student, a set piece for the fortune telling club, or even just a third club member, she hadn't at all expected what she had gotten when she had finally convinced Ran to join.

"Ran, we're friends. You'd better not be holding back on me," Kotobuki said warningly as she locked eyes with the other girl.

"I-I really need to go," Mari said as she snatched up her bag and fled the room. Kotobuki ignored the fleeing girl and held firm, one of the few students in the whole middle school who could meet Ran's gaze for more than a few seconds without getting weirded out.

Finally Ran relented and closed her book. "'Time for Fire and Flood and Wind and Lightning and Frost and Avalanche and Growth and Cleansing and Light and Shadow, a time for Storm'," she quoted. "It is part of a prophecy."

"And how do you know that?" Kotobuki asked warily. Ran just shook her head and shrugged, and Kotobuki sighed. So, it was one of those things Ran just seemed to know...she knew she wouldn't get anything else out of the girl on that subject. "Then who was speaking? Because that damn sure wasn't _his_ voice," she said.

Ran shrugged again as she began packing up. "Anyone who could tell is too close to him to see," she said. When she finished, she stood up and dusted off the seat of her skirt, then looked at Kotobuki. "Want to get some crepes?"

Kotobuki raised an eyebrow as she looked at the other girl, then sighed. _That_ was Ono Ran in a nutshell. Spouting spooky riddles one moment, asking her friends out to get crepes the next. No wonder nobody liked to hang out with her... "Sure. Let's see if we can find Mari."

Ran nodded and smiled slightly.

* * *

Negi shut the door behind him and stumbled down the thankfully empty hallway to the nearest men's bathroom. He tugged open the door and stumbled inside to lean against one of the sinks.

What had _that_ been about? Now that a few minutes had passed and his initial shock had passed, he could only vaguely recall the words someone had used his body to speak. Something about fires and flooding and lightning? Even now it was fading from his memory, like a dream. Well, whatever it had been, one thing was clear...he would have to put off seeing Nodoka-no, the Library Club today. He was simply too exhausted to do anything but go home and collapse on the couch for the rest of the day.

He looked up at the mirror, only a little surprised to see the sweat on his face. He shivered again as he recalled the sensation of having that slimy..._thing_ take control of his body, and splashed his face with water from the faucet. Okay, good. Better.

* * *

He had almost totally forgotten the incident by the time he left the club building, and had begun to wonder why he was feeling so tired when he finally arrived at the teacher's dorm.

* * *

_**Author's Notes:** So here it is, a week late and a little short. The shortness is, sadly, a result of the chapter growing too long and having two separate themes that split it almost straight down the middle, so I decided to go ahead and split it in half and post the halves as different chapters. With any luck, I'll have my problems with the next chapter fixed and have it up on time next week. Also, no student profiles this week.  
_

_Next time: Class trip!_


	11. Ch 9 Kyoto pt 1

**Still Waters 3, Chapter 9, Kyoto Trip Part 1**

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* * *

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_April 26th, 2009, Evening, Mahora Teachers' Dorm_

* * *

"Will you be okay here alone, Asuna-san?" Negi asked as he finished packing his bags the night before the class trip, his incident at the Fortune Telling Club long forgotten.

"Sure, I'll be fine. I'll just sit here. Alone. Suffering from the horrible loneliness as my only friend abandons me to run off and have fun with several dozen younger women," Asuna said, pouring it on thick. "I'll be fine, don't worry."

"If you say so…" Negi said after a moment as he placed another carefully folded shirt into his bag. "You can invite Makie-san if you get lonely."

Asuna nodded and waved him off. "I'll do that. Don't worry about it," she said as she watched him heft his bag experimentally. "What other teachers are going?"

"Nitta-sensei of course," Negi said, then grinned at the thought. The older teacher enjoyed the class trips almost as much as the students, though he would never admit it openly. "Seruhiko-sensei, Shizuna-sensei…some others are going as well. Max-san is coming too."

"Wow, that should keep them under control," Asuna said. To be sure, most of the students were terrified of the big American. It was no wonder; the man's natural expression was something between an angry frown and what could only be termed a death glare.

"You shouldn't say such things," Negi said automatically, though he secretly agreed. He had known the man for six years, but still had to admit that his appearance was unnerving at times. Max Linell was actually scarier when he was calm than he was when angry; at least when he was angry you knew what to expect. He heaved a sigh and plopped down beside Asuna on the couch.

"Tired?" she asked as she turned on the television and began flipping through the channels.

"Yeah..." Negi said. He listlessly watched the TV screen as his friend/roommate/first pactio partner switched from channel to channel before finally settling on some show featuring a giant obstacle course. They watched in comfortable silence for a moment while some man dressed as a sumo wrestler tried to run up a steep slope, only to fall just short of the top and roll down.

"You have to be there at five, right?" Asuna asked as she looked over at him. "You'd better get some sleep. I'll take the couch tonight Negi, you take the bed," she ordered while Kamo snickered in the background.

"Better do what she says, aniki. You know what they say about redheads," Kamo said, earning a glare from Asuna.

"Okay. Don't forget, Asuna. The emergency numbers are next to the phone, and if you get hungry-" Negi started.

"Yeah yeah, I know. You're not my mother. Go to bed."

* * *

The next morning found the class gathering in twos and threes at the designated meeting spot in front of the train station. The teachers, having gotten there first, made sure everyone was present, and then herded everyone onto the train.

The train ride itself was a long, arduous affair, thankfully free of spies or sudden outbreaks of frogs or anything even remotely suspicious or interesting, except for the novelty of a high speed train ride.

When the train finally pulled in at the station, everyone exited in a relatively orderly fashion, separating into their designated groups with little argument. When everything was finally straightened out, Negi addressed the class. "Okay everyone, please remain with your group at all times. Also, Abe-san? Please take a picture for the class."

"Ah…yes sensei," Abe Aiko replied as she dug out her digital camera from her backpack.

When that was done, Negi gave the same speech about Kyoto that he had given every year, followed by a quick run through of the city's historical significance, and then stepped aside to let Nitta-sensei lead the class on the usual tour. Still somewhat sleepy from the long train ride, the students were unusually quiet and well behaved as the tour started, a pleasant surprise for the teachers set to watch over them. They saw the Kiyomizu Stage and the ever popular Otawa Waterfall, as well as the usual series of temples and shrines before everyone headed to the hotel for the night.

* * *

A tall, thin man in a somewhat dated suit and fedora looked up from his watch as a group of female students walked by, gossiping and talking about what they would do during Free Activity Time. 'Just another class trip,' he thought to himself as he glanced back down at his watch. Kyoto had apparently become a popular location for that sort of thing since the last time he had been in the city. Well…the more chaos, the better. He had just started to turn away when a flash of white at the corner of his vision caught his attention. Steeling himself, he turned back to look at the crowd of students, searching for what he thought he might have seen. Sure enough…Long white hair, tied back in a sloppy pony tail. He waited until the girl turned to say something to a much shorter student to her right and gave him a clear view of her face. He pulled down the brim of his hat and pretended to be looking at his watch again as he tried to reign in his emotions. It was her, all right. He grinned in spite of himself, exposing his pointed canines. He grunted in amusement at his good fortune and slipped into a nearby alley.

This would make his eventual victory all the sweeter. If she had come back to this city and could pass within twenty feet of him without noticing, then she must have grown careless. And, if he was not mistaken, the short girl she had been speaking to bore the mark of a clan he hated above all measure; almost as much as he hated the white haired demon witch, as she had been known in certain circles.

Unable to hold himself back any longer, he let out a high pitched laugh that he quickly muffled. "Hmhmhm. One of the hated clan and the one who would steal my throne, together in front of me! You've made your last mistake, Miyoshi Youko…!"

* * *

After a long, exhausting day, Negi sighed as he reentered the hotel lobby. It had been an long, long day, what with the whole pesky class trip thing, followed by a long discussion with the manager over the right to bring Kamo-kun into the hotel. He looked around and spotted two of the other teachers seated on a nearby couch. "Hello Nitta-sensei, Max-sensei. I don't see Shizuna-sensei or Seruhiko-sensei…"

"Hello," Nitta said politely. He sat there, drinking occasionally from a glass of some clear liquid.

"Shizuna's making sure the kids are following curfew and Seruhiko went to clear up some trouble with the train tickets," Max said, his voice startlingly loud in the otherwise silent lobby. "So what's the plan for tomorrow?"

Negi looked at Max and Nitta as they sat, waiting for his answer. It appeared the two of them had been here for quite some time with nothing to talk about. Negi sat down in a nearby chair and let out a long breath as he finally relaxed.

"More shrines and historic buildings. There is a nice museum downtown, I think."

Max nodded, and silence descended again as the three teachers sat unmoving except for Nitta occasionally taking a sip of the liquid in his glass or checking his watch. Negi was just beginning to nod off when Nitta abruptly stood up and placed his now-empty glass on a nearby lamp table.

"The onsen is open now for teachers only. Care to join me?" he asked in a tone that indicated the answer didn't really matter.

"Okay," Negi said. "Max-san, you should come too; the onsen is quite nice here."

"No, I don't think-" Max started, only to be cut off by Kamo, who scrambled up his arm and perched on his shoulder to whisper into his ear.

"Don't worry about it, it will just be the four of us," Kamo said. Max shook his head.

"Come on, Max-san. You've never visited an onsen before, have you?" Negi asked.

"…You have lived in Japan for six years and never visited an onsen?" Nitta asked suddenly as he turned around, fixing the big American with a glare. His face was awfully red, and Negi realized what that clear liquid Nitta had been drinking must have been. "This is an outrage, you must come with me immediately."

Negi started to back away, but Nitta shot him a look. "...I just have something to take care of, I'll be there in a moment," Negi said reluctantly. Nitta gave him a look that threatened hours of lecturing should he not arrive promptly, and led the way, dragging Max behind him.

And so it was that Max Linell, P.E. teacher, mage, former agent of the American Division and trainer of the most powerful elemental in recent memory, was dragged into the embarrassing, humiliating, and all around horrifying experience that is the Japanese Onsen.

* * *

Seruhiko-sensei, upon returning to the hotel, found the lobby empty. He looked around a moment for Max and Nitta, whom he was supposed to meet here, when a startled "What do you mean I can't even wear _this_?" led him to the nearby changing room, where he paused in the entryway. Grotesque, disfiguring scars and scary face aside, Max-san was in fairly good shape and half-decent looking, as far as one totally, one hundred percent straight man can consider any other man to be half-decent looking. Completely, utterly straight.

Straight.

Seruhiko stripped down and joined them while Nitta lectured Max on the finer points of the onsen, and Negi arrived a moment later and began stripping down.

Straight.

_Straight_, dammit.

* * *

Aiko stealthily made her way down the stairs and peered around the corner into the lobby, hanging back as far as she could in order to remain unseen by anyone who might be down there. There was no one in the part of the lobby she could see, so she moved forward and peeked around a decorative pillar.

There was no one there.

She padded lightly across the carpet and out the front door. The street was relatively deserted, so she took a nearby bicycle that hadn't been chained up properly and began pedaling down the road.

* * *

"Hey, wake up girlie. Whaddaya want?"

Asuna blinked a few times and sat up. She didn't know where she was, but it was most definitely _not_ the couch where she had fallen asleep in Negi's place in the Teachers' Dorm. For one thing, Negi's place had a roof, and the sky was most definitely not red. She looked around and found herself in a field of dried out weeds and dying, sickly bunches of knee-high grass, sloping gently down a rocky beach to the sea. The monotony of the grassy field was broken by dozens of big fluted columns straight out of some Greek or Roman temple, all broken off roughly between fifteen and twenty feet up. The ground underfoot, or at least what she could see through the scraggly plantlife, seemed rocky at first glance until she realized the 'rocks' were actually broken pieces of statuary and possibly whatever the columns had previously supported. And, a few acres back from the sea, there was a gigantic wall of solid stone that stretched parallel to the shore as far as the eye could see in both directions and so high she found she had trouble comprehending it. Was it a mile high? Two? More? A cold breeze blew up from behind and she shivered. It seemed a storm was developing.

"Now I _know_ you're not here to look at the scenery, girlie."

She turned to look at the speaker and somehow wasn't surprised to see him, nor the two horns sprouting up from the top of his head. She felt she had met this oni-man before, but couldn't remember when or under what circumstances. "Is it a dream?" she asked as she stood up and patted the dirt from the back of the skirt she was now wearing. She recognized it; it and the shirt and shoes she was now wearing had been her favorite outfit back in middle school, though she had outgrown them years ago. A small spatter of rain struck her and she wrapped her arms around herself, shivering as she turned her back more squarely against the wind and rain.

The oni-man raised one eyebrow in a disbelieving manner and shrugged. "Who knows? But you're here, and that doesn't happen without a reason." He stood there in a comfortable stance, ignoring the inclement weather, and waited for her to explain herself.

"Where is this?" Asuna finally said. Something about this place bothered her...

"Oh, I don't know. Mars, maybe? More likely your subconscious. From what I understand, there's normally a building of some sort in this spot, but all you've got is _that_," he said, gesturing toward the ruin. "That always bothered me…" he said idly as he kicked a broken chunk of a statue. "Then there's _that_ thing," he said, jerking his head toward the wall. "Never saw one so big."

Asuna was completely weirded out by this point. Though he was vaguely familiar, the oni-man spoke as familiarly as if they had been great friends for years. "Who are you?"

He looked tired and annoyed. "Look, girlie. Something is wrong with you, but I don't know what it is. It's been over a year since I saw you last, and I can tell. Something's going on inside your head. Maybe a seal is weakening or maybe you're having a stroke, I don't know. But I like you, you've got fire. You're nothing like the others that've tried to wield it over the years; you've got real backbone, and I don't want to see you make some stupid mistake and die young." He gestured to the source of the increasingly strong breeze and spats of rain. "As cliché as it is, I have to say it. 'A Storm Is Coming.' Note the capital letters. It sort of fills you with foreboding, doesn't it? Say it, 'A Storm Is Coming'."

Asuna repeated after the oni-man. "'A Storm is Coming'…" It really _did_ seem foreboding. Frowning, she turned to look out over the ocean at the storm that was developing, but much to her chagrin, the oni-man grabbed her head and forced her to look the other way, toward the wall.

"Don't _ever_ look at it, girlie. _Ever._ You'll catch its attention, and you aren't ready to fight it off."

Asuna jerked her head away and scowled at him. "Why are you telling me this?" she demanded, barely restraining the urge to knock his lights out for touching her head like that.

"Call it an uncharacteristic bout of good will," the oni-man replied sarcastically.

They stood there a moment, eyeing each other irritably, until some forgotten memory snapped into place in Asuna's head. "M…Malvrin? Is that your name?"

Malvrin's eyes widened a bit, but he answered with a curt nod, his black oni horns shiny with rainwater. "You'd better go, it looks like a squall is blowing up."

* * *

Asuna jerked awake and found herself sitting on the faded couch in Negi's living room, clutching the sword Konoka's father had given her years ago. A quick glance around the room showed Makie sleeping soundly, slumped over the table with an empty wine bottle nearby and an empty glass in her hand. Asuna just looked at her stupidly for a moment before she recalled what had occurred earlier.

It hadn't been that bad, being alone in Negi's place…not until she found herself looking up at the door and expecting Negi to step through at about five o'clock. When she realized what she had been doing, the room suddenly seemed far too big and empty, so she had picked up the phone and called Makie over. The other girl had arrived shortly after with a smile and a bottle of wine, and the two of them had talked and laughed and gotten drunk until the neighbors complained. Asuna had been forced to hide in the closet while Makie explained to the angry manager about how she was room-sitting for Negi.

Asuna glanced back at the girl and smiled a bit. Makie had acquired quite a taste for red wine in the past year or so…and the wine she had brought wasn't half bad, in Asuna's unschooled opinion. Makie seemed a bit free with it, however, and Asuna had a sneaking suspicion that the cheerful girl didn't drink it for purely social purposes.

She got up from her place on the couch and carefully removed the bottle and glass from Makie's hands and tidied up a bit. A quick glance at the clock showed it was about 2:30. She sighed and got a couple blankets from the bed in Negi's room. She placed one over Makie, then curled up on the couch under the other one, and tried to get a few more hours of sleep.

* * *

Abe Aiko rode down the street on her 'borrowed' bike, the reflectors on the wheels spinning crazily in the night as she pedaled as fast as she could in the mounting rain. She had gone out earlier searching for the Seimei Shrine; there were…some people she knew there, and she felt it would be better to speak with them now rather than wait until they found out about her presence in the city through some other means. The rain, which had just begun tapering off, abruptly came back with a vengeance, forcing her to stop under a large awning in front of a restaurant.

"Hey girl. You should not be out and around at this time of night; this city can be dangerous," a man said from the darkness beside her.

Aiko gave the stranger a quick once over, a skill she had picked up in the last few years during her time as an amateur photographer. He was quite tall and thin, but she couldn't get a good look at his face in the shadow cast by the awning. He was wearing some kind of suit and a hat, so he was probably just a salaryman coming home late after a long day at the office.

"I know," she replied. "I'm on my way back right now." She didn't bother to say she had gotten so lost that she hadn't even been able to find her intended destination, and that there was a good chance she wouldn't be able to find her hotel before morning, either.

"That's not a uniform from any school around here," the man said after a moment. "Where are you from?"

"Oh, I'm on a class trip from Mahora," Aiko said easily enough. There was no point in hiding the information; and if anything, it showed the man that she was here with others who would notice if she went missing.

"Mahora? I've never heard of it. Is that near Tokyo?"

"Sort of," Ako said. They stood in an uncomfortable silence for a moment, watching the rain. It didn't look like it would slow any time soon.

"How long will you be here?" the man said after a short time had passed.

Aiko looked at him suspiciously for a moment, but it seemed as if he was just trying to make polite conversation, so she decided to give him an answer. "Probably until Friday." She didn't have time to worry about this; she had to get back to the hotel first.

"Oh."

They stood there awkwardly until the rain finally started to die down again.

"Hey," Aiko said suddenly. "You know this area, right? Do you know how to get to this hotel?" she asked, handing a brochure to the stranger, who looked at it and nodded.

"Ah, yes. Go three streets down and head west until you get to-"

Aiko listened carefully and committed the directions to memory, then thanked him and took off at top speed, happy to be away from the strangely unsettling man.

* * *

When the girl was gone, another figure stepped from the darkness of an unlit alley. "W-was that the girl?" the newcomer said nervously.

The man under the awning turned slightly and nodded. "That was her. Follow her. Learn her movements, her habits. They will be here until Friday, so you must capture her before then. I would do it myself, but I have other prey to hunt." He turned and started to walk away, then paused and looked back over his shoulder at the other man. "Kichirou, don't disappoint me, or I won't show you your master again."

"Y-yes, Masashi-sama."

* * *

A tired and bedraggled Aiko stumbled into the hotel lobby, dirt smudged on her face and soaking wet. She took off her wet shoes so she wouldn't track mud across the carpet and set off for the stairs at a quick pace, hoping nobody would enter the lobby and spot her before she made it to safety. She had only crossed half the distance to the stairs when someone spoke, startling her.

"And where have _you_ been?" a deep voice asked.

Aiko froze mid step and turned to face the speaker, not surprised to see her P.E. teacher standing at the entrance to one of the hallways that led out of the lobby. "I went out to get something to eat, but I got lost," she said, not daring to meet the big teacher's gaze.

Max sensei walked up and stopped about eight feet away and looked down at her, trying to hide his teacherly concern under a mask of stern discipline. The effect blew straight past scary, hardly slowed for terrifying, and went so far beyond instilling utter terror that it circled around and made it back to scary again efore it stopped. Aiko shivered, and Max sighed, annoyed at everything. He was supposed to be a P.E. teacher after all, he was expected to be big and scary. Especially with curfew breakers. "There are vending machines in the hallway," he pointed out, jerking his thumb back at the hallway he had just come from. Aiko squirmed, refusing to meet his gaze, and he slumped, unable to keep up the disciplinarian façade any longer. "Go get a shower and get some sleep; you'll need it for what we have planned today. You're just lucky it was my shift, Abe. Nitta would've made you sit in seiza until noon."

Aiko shuddered at that thought, then hurriedly complied with the teacher's suggestion. It was strange…he hadn't pressed her about what she had been doing like most teachers would. He seemed to have detected her lie about getting something to eat easily as well, but hadn't pressed that either. Maybe…maybe Scary Max-Sensei wasn't so bad after all? She paused on the stairs and glanced back at him just in time to see him ruthlessly smash a roach that crawled out from under a couch. She shuddered.

No, definitely as bad. Worse, even. She hurried up the stairs.

* * *

Max had just settled back into his chair irritably when the front door opened to reveal a tall, thin man with oddly colored light red hair.

The man took a few furtive steps before he spotted Max and froze mid step, one foot left hanging in the air.

Max just _looked_ at him, and the man backed up and left in a hurry.

* * *

_**Author's Notes:** Short chapter this time. Also, new characters! Okay, looks like Kyoto is never as safe as it seems, huh? And what was the _deal_ with those two guys, anyway? Not to mention Asuna... Pre~tty weird._

* * *

Abe Aiko - Student number 3

Born - 2/22/1995

Height - 4'10"

Photography Club

Likes: Unusual things, interesting things

Dislikes: Things that are too normal, her family history

Roommate: Yamamoto Kimi

Little Known Facts: She joined the photography club not because she wanted to, but because she was expected to and didn't really have anything else she wanted to do.

* * *

Yamamoto Kimi - Student number 2

Born - 8/2/1994

Height - 5'

Library Club

Likes: Cats, peace and quiet

Dislikes: Noisy, irritating people

Roommate: Abe Aiko

Little Known Facts: She has low blood pressure and takes forever to wake up in the mornings

* * *

Aisaka Sayo - Student number 1

Born - ?

Height - 4'10"

Likes: Violin music, peaceful people

Dislikes: being lonely

Roommate: N/A

Little Known Facts: She has been 'sleeping' in Abe Aiko and Yamamoto Kimi's dorm room for quite some time, as she finds their quiet, peaceful interaction pleasant and refreshing.


	12. Ch 10 Kyoto pt 2

**Still Waters 3, Chapter 9, Kyoto Trip Part 2**

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* * *

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_What, you didn't think it would be _that_ easy to do the right thing, did you?__  
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* * *

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_Tuesday, April 28th, 2009, Noon_

* * *

"Okay class, is everyone here? You will have one hour to look around in the museum here before we move on to the Seimei Shrine and Nijo Castle," Negi said. A quick look around confirmed that the group leaders were doing their jobs. He hoped everyone would get back to the lobby on time; he didn't want to waste any more time searching for wayward students.

* * *

"Aaaahhh," Miyoshi Youko said as she stretched, arms above her head, drawing stares from the few non-students present in the lobby of the museum. It was no wonder, really; her appearance was quite striking. Already several people had asked if she were a model. "Ah…I don't want to go to the Seimei Shrine."

The other group members either ignored her or decided to keep their silence. Youko had already gotten them in trouble three times, and they had only been here in Kyoto a day and a half.

"You guys are no fun."

Sato Gin spoke after a moment, her low voice sort of creepy in the semi-deserted and ancient atmosphere of the museum. "I want to go…I heard there are some descendants of Abe no Seimei there. I'm curious about onmyodo." Sato Gin was very tall for a Japanese girl, only a hair shorter than Youko, who stood just under six feet tall. Oddly enough, she had white hair of a shade almost identical to Youko's, though Youko's was much longer. The two had been mistaken for sisters quite a few times already based on height and hair color alone.

"I don't really want to go either," Kondo Kai said. She had been jumpy and on edge ever since the class's arrival in Kyoto; and without even any of her fellow band members here in Group 5 to talk to, she had quickly become very withdrawn. She touched the odd, small balls of hair that were a signature part of her hairstyle. "I need a hat. Does anyone have a hat?"

The class representative, Nakamura Sachiko, maintained her silence as she sipped her drink; she had nothing to add to this conversation.

The final member of the group, Suzuki Keiko, was also the shortest member of the group, six inches shorter than Kondo-san or the class rep, and almost a foot shorter than the two white-haired girls. Thrown randomly into this group, she hardly even knew these girls, but had latched on to the class representative out of necessity. Kondo-san and Miyoshi-san shined far too brightly for her, and Sato-san was just creepy.

Youko grinned suddenly, the sort of grin that often came before the announcement of some new plan that inevitably got everyone around her in trouble.

"You know, we could-"

"No." It was a direct denial in a tone of clear command, just as Youko had expected of the class representative.

'Nakamura Sachiko-sama is to be feared,' Keiko thought to herself.

Youko stood up anyway, her grin widening. "Let's go get something to eat, I'm hungry."

"We are not to leave the museum until it is time to go to the Seimei Shrine," Nakamura said levelly as she locked eyes with the taller girl.

Youko almost sat down again before she realized what she was doing; it was hard to deny the power the class rep seemed to hold over everyone.

She shook it off and went on. "Come on, I haven't eaten anything since breakfast and we won't stop for food for another three or four hours! Aren't you guys hungry?"

"I am," Kai said after a moment. Sato nodded her agreement as well. The three of them turned to Keiko, who sank into her chair and didn't answer.

Youko turned all her attention on the short girl. "Sure you're hungry Kei-chan. Let's go to that McDonalds I saw a bit down the road. We'll get something to eat and be back before anyone knows we're gone. It'll be fun, think of it as an adventure." Keiko still seemed unsure, so Youko caught her gaze and held it. "You're hungry, right? Your stomach is rumbling and it feels like you haven't had anything to eat all day, right?"

Keiko just looked at her. "R…right. I _am_ kind of hungry, now that I think about it," she said as she turned to look at the class rep.

Sachiko looked around at her group members, from the widely grinning Miyoshi-san to the pleading look Suzuki-san was giving her, and relented. She was a little hungry herself, after all.

"We will only stay there for fifteen minutes, then return here immediately," Sachiko stated as Kai let out a small cheer that was cut off abruptly when one of the museum workers glared at her.

* * *

Group 1 had been in the ancient weapons section of the museum for quite some time, slowed by, shockingly enough, Kara Stride and Yamamoto Kimi, both of whom simply _had _to look closely at every single sword or spear on display. The two of them had even somehow heckled one of the museum workers into taking the group into a storage room and allowing them to handle some of the less fragile items stored there.

Abe Aiko had to admit that it had been interesting, but not _that_ interesting. Her roommate Yamamoto Kimi was eating it up though. The short girl was in there right beside the foreigner, ooh-ing and ahh-ing at the padded drawers full of swords in the back room.

Kimi took a shine to a particularly well preserved sword and picked it up carefully. They had all been given special gloves to avoid getting skin oils or whatever all over the artifacts, so Aiko supposed it would be fine. She nearly had a heart attack when Kimi suddenly shifted both hands to the handle, or the grip, or whatever it was called, and acted like she was going to swing it around. "K-Kimi-san, that's not a good idea…!"

The museum worker's face went pale and she raised her hands pleadingly. "Now…now, I don't think, I mean, that's…"

Then Kimi did what Aiko could only describe as some sort of dancing sword thingy, and everyone just stared, jaws dropped; all except the American student, Kara Stride, who smiled in approval.

"It's so beautiful," Kimi said when she was through. "I thank you greatly for this opportunity," she said to the worker as she bowed formally.

"It-it's nothing," the woman replied as she carefully-and firmly-took the sword back and shooed the students out. If her boss had walked in while that brat was swinging that sword like that…! She grumbled to herself as she opened the correct drawer in the big cabinet and frowned as she saw another sword already in place. A horrible thought began to form in the back of her mind as she closed the drawer and pulled out another, and another, and another. Finally, she came to the final drawer, a drawer she had been carefully avoiding up to this point. She pulled the drawer open, and it was empty.

Instead of the drawer containing an early 19th century sword she had meant to show the students earlier, the drawer she had actually opened was the one containing the jewel of the museum; a beautifully preserved work by Masamune.

She nearly fainted.

* * *

Soon, Group 1 was out of the storage room and moving through the calligraphy section. Aiko didn't know about the others, but her mind wasn't on the calligraphy. Rather, since when had her roommate been able to do something like _that_? Kimi hadn't said anything about swords since they moved in at the dorm, and she didn't seem to have anything sword-related back at Mahora.

"How long have you known the sword, Yamamoto-san?" Kara Stride asked, breaking the thoughtful silence that had prevailed for the past five minutes.

Kimi looked embarrassed, but replied anyway. "Since I was five. My mother gave me my first sword then, and I've practiced with her up until she…she died last year."

"My apologies," Kara said. Silence fell again as the group walked.

After a moment, Ono Ran touched Aiko's arm, startling her. They fell back a bit from the others before the strange girl spoke.

"Her mother did not simply die. I do not understand exactly, but something happened to her. Protect her well, Abe-san."

Aiko, unsure how to react to something so weird, nodded hesitantly. Ran nodded in response, then moved to rejoin the group, leaving Aiko standing there.

* * *

"Hey, Negi. I think your group-making skills leave a lot to be desired," Max said as he caught up to the young teacher as he looked at a display of early guns. Kamo was riding on Negi's shoulder as usual. "What were you thinking, putting Taro and Whiskey and Rosemary Dean all in one group?"

The color drained out of Negi's face as he realized what he had done. "Oh no…"

"Uh oh," Kamo said. If it had been possible, he would have gone pale too. "Remember who else is in that group?"

Negi began to sweat as he recalled the other two members. "Rally Wheeler and Yoshida Ume," he said tonelessly, all thoughts of the display that had seemed so interesting a moment before gone.

"A naïve robot and a shy wallflower," Max said.

"We have to find them."

"Yeah."

"Negi…" Kamo said from the teacher's shoulder, shaking his head ruefully.

* * *

Youko snickered to herself as they all sat on the stone benches in the park down the road from the McDonalds. It had been surprisingly easy to get them all here, even with Sacchin's constant refusals. She snickered again at the nickname she had given the class rep. It wasn't precisely correct, but it worked. With any luck, it would catch on and she could use it to tease her all the time.

She was a little surprised when someone sat down beside her on the bench, and she realized with a shock that she could barely move.

"Do not try to speak, you will only hurt yourself."

She couldn't even turn her head, so she settled for clenching her teeth and trying to glare at the speaker through the corner of her eye. What she could see wasn't much…just an out of focus black haired Japanese woman in red and white clothing. For some reason, the others didn't seem to notice anything was wrong.

"You are the one called Youko Ninetales, are you not?" The familiar-sounding woman asked. Youko's eyes widened, and that was all the answer the woman needed. "You are brave, to come back to Kyoto so soon after your escape."

Youko felt a growl rising in her throat, but cut it off quickly. She couldn't afford to make this woman angry, not here, not like this. Judging by what she could see of the speaker's clothing, she was Shinmeiryu, and it was nothing but trouble to make one of _them_ mad at you. Boy, didn't she know it...!

"I will allow you to speak and explain yourself. Depending on your answers to my questions, you may return with Negi-kun, or you may return with me," she said as she calmly reached over and slapped a paper talisman into place on Youko's forehead.

Suddenly freed, she could move. She looked at the woman who had interrupted her play and her first instinct was to rip the woman's throat out, but she found her hands and rear end still glued to the bench. A growl rose in her throat again despite her best efforts to hold it back. "Tsuruko…!"

"Do not try to fight; the talismans I used are quite strong."

Youko squirmed wildly, but it was just as Tsuruko said; she was firmly stuck in place. "This can't be right, you're not strong enough for something like this, not even your sister is strong enough!"

Tsuruko made a careless gesture that took in the entire park. "You would be surprised what can be accomplished with a squad of onmyoji. Now tell me, what are you doing in Kyoto?"

"What does it look like?" Youko spat. "I'm here on a class trip. You know about the kid, right?" she asked, referring to Negi.

Tsuruko nodded, but maintained her silence.

"That whole school is full of people with power, it'll be safe there. It's not like it was here, where you people locked me away for three hundred years without anybody interesting to talk to!"

"That was a punishment," Tsuruko said. It didn't come across as an excuse, however; simply a statement of fact.

"Punishment for what, getting the oni under control? I was just minding my own business when you people ambushed me and locked me up! I didn't do anything!"

Tsuruko continued on as if Youko's outburst hadn't happened. "It was punishment for causing the destruction of a third of Kyoto and actions resulting in the death of innocents. In the eyes of the council at the time, the losses far outweighed the gains. I was not there to see what had happened, but it is the punishment they deemed fit for your transgressions."

Youko looked away. "I hate them."

"They are all dead, there is no one to hate here."

Tsuruko stood up and Youko looked up at her. She was, as always, an amazing woman, and Youko hated her for it.

"You will come to the Konoe estate on the final day of your class trip. There, you will hear the head of the new council's decision on your fate. Do not be late." And suddenly Tsuruko was gone, the paper talismans locking Youko in place were gone, and her fellow group members were looking at her oddly.

"Is something wrong, Miyoshi-san?" Keiko asked.

"No, I'm just tired," Youko said, frowning. The spirit had gone out of her, and she just didn't feel like doing anything at all anymore, except maybe crawl into a bed and fall asleep. She was tired. Tired of the hassle, tired of being constantly hunted. She was tired of Kyoto, and tired of Japan. She sighed in exasperation.

"Let's go back."

* * *

Taro walked stiffly alongside Possum, followed closely by the pink haired gynoid, Rally Wheeler, and behind her by Yoshida Ume with Rosemary Dean bringing up the rear some distance back. The robot had been following her and Possum around since Friday, and it was really starting to get aggravating.

Her mood got worse and worse as the minutes wore on and she couldn't shake the feeling of the weird girl's stare boring into the back of her head until something snapped. She stopped and turned on the robot with a glare. "What? What could you possibly want with us?"

Rally shrank back a step, then stopped. Hakase and Chachamaru-onee-chan had both told her to get some friends, even Eva-sama had ordered it. But Taro-san and Possum-san didn't seem to like her…she didn't know what to do. Her motor cycles began to climb and an unusual buildup of laser fluid gathered in her optical system.

"Um…um Taro-san? I think that was kind of mean," Ume said.

"I didn't ask you, cake-girl," Taro spat before turning her attention back to the robot. "Are you stalking us? If that's it, we can just settle this here and now!"

"Taro," Possum said as she tried to pull the other girl away.

Taro jerked her arm away and stepped forward, standing eye to eye with Rally, who took another step back as the abnormal buildup of laser fluid reached a critical level and began to drain as Taro gave her her best death glare.

"_Taro_!" Possum said loudly, finally getting the girl's attention.

"What!" Taro bellowed as she whirled to face her friend.

"She's crying."

Taro's eyes widened in surprise as she turned around and saw Rosemary Dean and Yoshida standing in front of the poor robot girl, glaring at her.

"How could you?" Yoshida demanded, showing a few tears of her own now. Rosemary stepped up to look Taro in the eye. She was three inches taller and had achieved quite the reputation herself.

Taro bristled. "What do you two want? Do you want to fight? I'll take you both on! I'll-"

"Urashima-san!" Negi shouted as he ran up, Kamo scrambling to retain his place on the teacher's shoulder.

Taro, violently on edge by this point, whipped around without stopping to think and threw a punch before she could stop herself, but Scary Max-Sensei caught it and enveloped her hand in his own. She tried another on reflex, but he caught that hand as well. She tried to jerk her hands away and then, when that didn't work, tried to kick him, but he blocked it with a casual movement of his leg.

"What's wrong, Taro? Why are you on edge like this?" he asked. "You're smarter than this, I know it."

Taro struggled for a moment longer, contemplated trying to kick him again, but finally gave up and made a face that looked suspiciously like a pout. "I'm sorry," she muttered.

"Tell it to Rally."

Taro made another face, but did it anyway. "I'm sorry, Rally." Max let her go.

"That's good."

"Urashima-san, why did you do that?" Negi asked.

Taro turned red and looked away. She would never get used to Negi-sensei looking earnestly at her, it seemed. "I don't know," she mumbled, trying to ignore the passersby giving them odd looks and the single policeman who wanted to know what was going on.

"She gets like this sometimes," Possum suddenly said, drawing everyone's attention. Taro looked away, ashamed at her actions and embarrassed at the attention they were drawing.

"Excess energy, is it?" Max asked. Possum shrugged, and Taro maintained her silence. "Okay then. I'm pretty sure you know Asuna, so it should be okay. When we get back to Mahora, I'll speak with you about this again."

Yoshida and Rosemary Dean went wide-eyed and looked at each other at that revelation. Taro would have to face Scary Max-Sensei when they returned to Mahora? They felt a bit bad now, but the girl had brought it on herself.

Negi looked at the group. "You are all classmates, you shouldn't be fighting. Do I need to leave you in the hotel for the rest of the day?" Everyone shook their heads. "Good. Now come with us, we are almost ready to visit the Seimei Shrine."

Negi and Max led Group 3 back into the museum, where they found everyone else waiting for them in the lobby. "Okay everyone, we will now go to the Seimei Shrine. Please get aboard the bus in a timely manner…"

* * *

As the class approached the shrine along the sidewalk, a couple of students began to hang back more and more. Specifically, Kondo Kai and Abe Aiko. Yamamoto Kimi saw her roommate dropping back and stopped to wait for her.

"What's wrong, Aiko-chan?"

Aiko looked up wearily. "Remember those relatives I said I didn't want to meet? They spend a lot of time here, and I _really_ don't want to meet them."

Kimi nodded in understanding. "There is no avoiding it. You should just stay in the middle of the group and try not to draw attention to yourself. Also-Oof," she said as she bumped into Kondo Kai, who had slowed to a stop in front of them. "I'm sorry Kondo-san, I didn't see you there…Kondo-san?"

"Ah…what?" Kai asked. "Oh, don't worry about it," she said absently, turning back to stare at the gate to the shrine up ahead.

"Kondo-san? Are you coming?" Kimi asked.

"I guess," the blonde said. Still, she stood still, head cocked to the side, seemingly listening to something neither girl could hear. The three of them had by this point fallen back quite far from the rest of the class, which was currently stopped at the gate up ahead while Negi-sensei gave a brief history lesson.

They caught the tail end of the lesson as they approached. "-of the famous onmyoji Abe no Seimei. Now, as we go inside please turn your attention to-"

Kondo Kai let the teacher's voice fade out as she looked around warily. There were several people present, sweeping the grounds or praying or whatever, but nobody seemed to have noticed her. She moved forward and bumped into Aiko, who had stopped again.

"Aiko-chan?"

Kai saw Kimi, a fair distance ahead, stop and look back at them. Aiko looked up at her and started to speak when…

"There! I see you! What are you doing here? You should be…" The priest trailed off as he approached, finally slowing to a stop about eight feet away as he caught a glimpse of Aiko's face. "My apologies, Lady Aiko, I did not see you earlier."

He bowed low as Kai looked at Aiko and mouthed 'Lady Aiko?' Aiko shrugged sheepishly and looked away.

"The head priest will be glad to see you. I wish you had written to signal your return; we would have been better prepared for your visit," the priest said, still bowing.

Kimi came back and looked from Aiko to Kai to the priest. "…Aiko-chan?" The priest shot her a glare and Aiko looked at her as if begging for help. She had no idea what was going on.

"Now you…you are her servant, correct?" the priest said, grabbing Kai's wrist and pulling her toward an outbuilding. "Come, there is much work to be done in preparation for the Lady Aiko's return."

Kimi watched as Kai yanked her hand free and backed away, eyes wide. "N-no!"

"What are you doing?" Aiko demanded of the priest.

"She is your servant, correct?" the priest asked.

"Aiko-chan? What's happening here?" Kimi asked again. Why was no one answering her?

"Get away from me!" Kai demanded, her voice going high pitched as she tried to back away. The priest grabbed her wrist again and tightened his grip as she tried to escape.

"I understand the Lady Aiko is kindhearted, but this behavior is unforgivable-" the priest said.

"Aiko-chan!" Kimi demanded.

* * *

Aiko just watched the scene unfold as if she weren't a part of it. The priest was trying to drag Kondo-san away now, and she heard Kimi-chan calling her name from far away. She glanced toward where she had last seen Negi-sensei and the rest of the class, but they were nowhere in sight.

"Let go of meeee!" Kai squealed breathlessly. Aiko watched as Kai looked around frantically, searching for help, but Aiko couldn't make her voice work. Their eyes met and Aiko just stood there, mouth opening and closing like a fish.

_They know I'm here, they know I'm here! Grandmother won't be pleased, she won't be happy with this, she's going to be angry-_

"Aiko-chan! Kimi-chan, help me!" Kai begged breathlessly as she tried to pull back from the priest.

"You…stubborn…beast…!" the priest grunted as he tried to drag her away. Kai finally gathered enough presence of mind to set her feet, and suddenly the priest found he couldn't drag her another step. "Stubborn beast…I didn't want to do this," he said as he reached into the folds of his clothing, took out a slip of paper, and slapped it onto Kai's forehead.

The girl dropped bonelessly to the ground, and Aiko's paralysis was finally broken.

"What the hell are you doing?" Aiko screeched as Kimi rushed to Kai's side.

The priest's jaw dropped and his eyes widened comically at her outburst. "M-my Lady, I…I'm sorry, though I do not know…I offer my apologies My Lady, I don't, I…"

"Fix her now!" Aiko yelled, pointing at the paper talisman stuck on Kai's forehead. The utter terror on the fallen girl's face was painful to see.

"But…but's it's an _oni_! They're just beasts!" the priest said, his tone a little frantic. "If I take it off without the proper restraints, it will kill us all!"

"_She's my friend!_" Aiko bellowed at the top of her lungs in a tone that must have reached every corner of the shrine complex as she clenched her fists. What was wrong with this stupid priest?

"But it…she," the priest said, frowning as he said the word, "...is just an oni…" His eyes went from one girl to the next as Kimi tugged at the talisman on Kai's forehead.

"It won't come off," Kimi said in the tense silence that followed.

Aiko met the priest's eyes and approached to within two feet of him, glaring her best glare; an action totally unheard of in polite Japanese society. "I said _TAKE…IT…OFF._"

* * *

The priest was speechless. Here was the heir's daughter, five-foot-nothing in the tall shoes she still favored, looking him in the eye and ordering him to release a dangerous beast? What if it tried to kill her? He would just have to sacrifice his life to save hers of course, and he didn't want to do that if at all possible. But if he didn't do what she said and the heir or the master heard of it…he shuddered. The inevitable result didn't bear thinking about.

Aiko watched the priest suspiciously as he knelt down gingerly next to Kai, whose eyes moved around at a frantic pace. Kimi moved out of the priest's way and he reached down toward the stricken girl's head.

"Are you sure about-"

"Do it _now_," Aiko said.

The priest muttered a prayer under his breath, then plucked the talisman from Kai's forehead and jumped back in the same motion, pushing Aiko out of the way of imminent death.

Or not so imminent death.

Kai scrambled backward until she bumped into a tree and curled into a fetal position, shivering.

Aiko got back to her feet, pushed past the gobsmacked priest, and joined Kimi at Kai's side.

"…Kondo-san? Are you all right?"

"Do I freaking _look_ all right?" Kai said as she shivered violently and started to sniffle. "That guy tried to kuh-kidnap me!"

"Is something wrong?" someone said. All eyes turned to the speaker.

"Negi-sensei!" Kimi said. He stood there in the path, the rest of the class and Scary Max-Sensei behind him.

"No, it's okay, we just had a misunderstanding," Aiko said stiffly, staring the priest down.

Negi raised one eyebrow and looked from the priest to the three students and back. "Come along then, we have some more places to see."

The priest started to speak up, but Aiko spoke before he could say a word. "We'll be along in a minute, there's something I need to clear up. Is that okay, sensei…?"

Negi just looked at her for a moment, then nodded and led the class back toward the gate.

Aiko watched them move off for a moment, saw Kai's fellow bandmates lingering at the back of the class for a moment before they too followed the teacher, then turned on the priest and fixed him with a glare. "You know who I am. Know that this girl, this _girl_, is under my protection. If you or anyone else tries _anything at all_, you will have to answer to _me_. Understand?"

The priest just stared at her for a moment, then nodded, his face tight and grim.

Aiko nodded. "Good. Come on, Kimi-chan, Kondo-san." Then she turned on her heel and walked away. Kimi and Kai looked at each and hurried after her while the priest frowned at the three of them.

As they walked, Kimi suddenly spoke up. "What's all this about an 'oni'?"

Kai missed a step.

"Kondo-san here is an oni," Aiko said without looking back at the two.

Kimi blinked and thought about that. "…are you trying to make fun of me?" She glanced at Kai, who looked at the ground and blushed.

"No, I'm not," Aiko said irritably.

Kimi looked at Kai again. "That's a joke, right? Kondo-san?"

"It's not a joke," Aiko snapped irritably. Still she continued walking. Kai maintained her silence and looked away.

Kimi just looked at her. Aiko-chan was acting awfully strange…they had been roommates for a while now, and Kimi had never seen her so irritated as she was now, not to mention speaking such...such nonsense. Or was it? She had seen a lot of strange things, so it wouldn't really be _that_ much of a stretch to find that there was such a thing as an Oni...but if something like that was real, what else was? Youkai? Ghosts? Sea monsters? Dragons? Surely not, right? ...right?

"Hey…um…please keep it a secret, okay? I mean…I don't want anyone to know," Kai said, her voice soft and timid and completely unlike Kimi had ever heard it before.

"Lady Aiko! Lady Aiko, I have a note for you!" a young man said as he approached at a run. Aiko shot him a glare that sent chills through Kimi's veins, but the young man appeared untouched by it.

"Lady Aiko, please take this. It is from your grandmother," he said.

Aiko took the note, glanced at it, and grimaced as she stuffed it into her pocket. She shooed the boy away and stalked down the path.

"What was that about?" Kimi asked, her mind still reeling from the revelation that not only did such a creature as an oni really exist, but one of her classmates _was_ one and yet had never shown the slightest urge to drag people away into the mountains and eat them, nor did she appear to be an alien invader...she didn't even seem to own a tiger stripe bikini. Not that Kimi had seen, anyway. 'Well, I guess that's what I get for watching too much TV,' she thought.

"My grandmother wants me to come back when I have some free time and pay my respects to my ancestors," Aiko said tonelessly as she carefully folded the note and put it in her pocket.

Kimi had a feeling Aiko had left something out. "And…?"

"…and she wants me to bring Kondo-san," Aiko said.

* * *

_**Author's Notes**: And here we have what looks like a regular chapter but actually includes some incredibly important stuff that you won't know is actually important for quite a while. Heh... Also, there really is a Seimei Shrine in Kyoto. However, I have taken liberties with its description and history and location and...well…everything else. Yeah. It's for the sake of the story :p Also, in case I really have to spell it out for you…_

_Abe no Seimei - famous onmyoji. Look him up on wikipedia._

_Abe Aiko - Seimei's descendant_

_Below I have included short profiles for Sato Gin (23), Suzuki Keiko (8), and Rosemary Dean (5)._

* * *

Sato Gin - Student number 23

Born - 3/1/1995

Height - 5'8"

Art Club

Likes: Her deep voice, being spooky, the smell of old books

Dislikes: People in general

Roommate: Nakamura Sachiko

Little Known Facts: She is actually a very good driver, and has won a few backroad street races in her father's car.

* * *

Suzuki Keiko - Student number 8

Born - 1/25/1995

Height - 4'11"

Pottery Club

Likes: Collecting things

Dislikes: Excessive recognition for her accomplishments

Roommate: Mako Sylvester

Little Known Facts: She is extremely intelligent, and has been known to purposefully answer test questions wrong so she won't get the highest grade in the class.

* * *

Rosemary Dean - Student number 5

Born - 2/12/1995

Height - 5'8"

Archery Club

Likes: Hitting the bullseye, the sound of a bowstring being released, scented candles

Dislikes: Cleaning, hard work

Roommates: Kobayashi Ayumi, Watanabe Miyako

Little Known Facts: She is an orphan from the US who was sent to Japan to study by her grandmother.


	13. Ch 11 Kyoto pt 3

**Still Waters 3, Chapter 10, School Trip Part 3**

_

* * *

_

_Greetings._

_I know it has been some time since my last letter, but I want to assure you that, contrary to your assumptions in the letter you sent several weeks ago, I am most definitely NOT wasting time in a rock band, I don't care what anyone says. Rock bands are beneath our notice, as you always say. It is just a mistake. Contrary to what you might have heard, the extra money I requested last year was needed to take care of unforeseen problems, and was not wasted on musical instruments of any sort._

_In any case, I have been thus far unable to establish contact with the Shinmeiryu. I understand the importance of opening a dialogue with them, but they are very evasive. And, with so few resources at my disposal here in Japan, it is incredibly difficult to discover anything about them. I have heard separately that they are a myth, a bunch of crazies, reduced to two sisters, or even died out a century ago, all contrary to the information I was given before I left home. Luckily, the library here at school is very large, and I was able to find quite a bit of information on the group in one of the library's restricted areas, which brings up a whole new set of questions. I won't elaborate on that in this letter, but it appears that this city, or at least the school system, is most assuredly Not Normal. _

_But anyway, I will find the Shinmeiryu, and I will convince them to work together with us. Or at the least I will convince them to send a diplomat. My class trip has been moved from Okinawa to Kyoto, where the Shinemeiryu are rumored to have their main base of operations. We will be there for a week, so I should have plenty of time to find them. Don't worry, it will be all right._

_By the way, how is Carly? I sent a package for her a few weeks ago, it should arrive soon if it hasn't already. I hope she enjoys it; I made sure to pick one with a nice pattern._

_Your daughter,_

_Kara Stride._

_

* * *

_

The days in Kyoto passed fairly quickly, full of shrines and museums and castles. The initial conflicts among group members soon smoothed out, and the students began to behave themselves. Then, all too soon, came the last day of the school trip, along with Free Activity Time.

* * *

_Dear Kara,_

_You are still wearing your glasses, correct? You know you should wear them at all times; if your eyesight was to fall any further, it would be a terrible shame._

_Also, I am glad to hear that you are not wasting your time with such worthless things as rock and roll; the flute has a much more beautiful sound._

_I am disappointed in the lack of information about the Shinmeiryu, but rest assured they are most definitely a powerful force, no matter what their numbers. I am enclosing a chart of the symbols and signs they have used in the past, acquired at great personal expense from a Mr. Riggs, introduced to me by a mutual friend. He is quite a strange man; tall and thin and reminiscent of some awkward bird like a crane or heron. He claims to have extensive information on the Shinmeiryu, but has named quite a large price for it. I am inclined to humor him, but I wonder if it would be worth the cost. He claims to have recently returned to the United States from being imprisoned abroad; most peculiar. But we all know how those savages in third world countries can be, don't we Kara? _

_As for your sister, she received the package you sent, and is happy with the dress or kinomo or whatever the foolish thing is called. You really should just save your money, it is costing us a fortune to keep you there for so long. She says she likes the morning glories in the pattern, and was happy that you remembered her favorites were violet rather than blue._

_One last note: Be careful in that city. Kyoto is well known to harbor all sorts, and it would be for the best if you didn't become mixed up in some silly eastern cult. And remember, your sister wishes to see some pictures of you in the city._

_With love,_

_Your Mother_

_

* * *

_

Kara finished rereading the letter for the tenth time, folded it up, and put it back into her pocket. 'Why does she always ask about my glasses? My contacts should work well enough,' she thought irritably. Her mother had _always_ been obsessed with the ugly pair of glasses she had obtained, and had very nearly exploded on her when Kara had suggested getting contacts. It wasn't until she had come to Japan and got out from under her mother's shadow that Kara had finally been able to take them off.

"Kara-san? What was that?" her shy friend and bandmate Watanabe Miyako asked as she entered the room.

Kara glanced over at the other girl. "Just a letter from my mom. I'm going out…are you going to stay here in the hotel, Miyako?"

Miyako nodded, and Kara nodded in return and attempted a grin. It didn't work out so well; she had too much on her mind. "Don't let Ayumi get to you, okay? I know she's…well…_Ayumi_, but just hang in there, okay?" she said as she zipped her bag shut. Unfortunately, Ayumi had been put into the same group as Miyako by Negi-sensei. And, while Ayumi wasn't as obsessed with teasing Miyako as she was with that Caro girl, the stupid girl didn't know how to leave well enough alone.

"Okay, Kara-san," Miyako said. She tried a smile herself, but it didn't work out so well either. Ayumi had been particularly hard on her the past few days, and the rest of Group 1 and Kara had been the only thing keeping her from breaking down in tears. She had certainly come close to it more than once this trip.

Kara stood up and picked up the gym bag she had been packing. "I'll see you later, Miyako. Stick with Aiko or Kimi-san, okay?" she said as she headed for the door.

"I don't know where they went."

Kara stopped and looked back at her. "Stay with Ono-san, then. If you have to, go to one of the restaurants around here, or an arcade. She's no good at games, so you should be safe there." Miyako nodded, so Kara opened the door and stepped out into the hallway. She looked from side to side, nodded at Kondo Kai who almost jumped when their eyes met, and headed for the stairs.

She descended to the lobby level and went through the doors and out into the street. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, held it in, and let it out.

When she opened her eyes, she was a different person.

She moved down the road quickly to the nearest convenience store and went into the bathroom and locked the door behind her. A quick glance around the tiny bathroom showed a small security camera in the corner above the door. Well…she would have to do something about that, wouldn't she? In a single quick motion, she peeled her shirt off over her head, grunted as gravity took hold harshly, and draped the shirt over the security camera, then knelt down and unzipped the gym bag. No time to waste; she couldn't have anyone from class recognize her and interfere with her mission, so…

She pulled the button-down shirt out of the gym bag and held it out at arm's length for a moment. It had been a long time since she had worn this shirt. She hadn't worn this sort of thing since she left home to come to Japan, back when she had reinvented herself.

She put her arms through the sleeves and left the front unbuttoned while she took her shoes off and stripped off her jeans. She reached into the gym bag and pulled out a loose pair of black slacks, only a little wrinkly from their time in the bag. 'I haven't worn anything like _this_ in a while either,' she thought, her lip curling in distaste as she shook the slacks out and stepped into them. She threaded the matching belt through the slacks' beltloops and cinched it tight, then reached into the gym bag again, this time removing an uncomfortable pair of nice black shoes. She slipped them on and looked at her reflection in the mirror above the sink and barely repressed a shudder. It was like going back in time, except her hair had been shorter then, and her chest nowhere near as big. She reached back and twisted her long ponytail into a bun, holding it in place by means of a few pins. She started buttoning up her shirt and paused halfway up. It was tight; very, very tight. Well, there was no helping it, so she soldiered on until that was done and then reached into the gym bag for one final item, mentally cursing herself for forgetting to bring along an undershirt.

She stood for a long time, looking at the pair of glasses. She hadn't worn them since her arrival in Japan; had vowed to herself never to wear them again, in fact. Her mother had demanded pictures of her, however, and that presented problems. If she sent pictures of Kara the Rocker rather than Kara the Serious Young Martial Artist, things would get ugly very fast and she would likely be sent home right away. It wasn't like she was _really_ Kara the Rocker anyway; it was just…sort of fun to pretend to be. When people expected you to be rebellious, you could do all sorts of things you would never be able to do otherwise. It could be quite exhilarating. Not that she was really Kara the Serious Young Martial Artist either, not anymore. She hadn't been that girl in a long, long time.

She removed her contacts and stood there, holding the glasses up. "Is it really so bad you can't even think of going back to the way things were?" she said aloud, surprising herself. It _was_ somehow better to hear a voice though, even if it was just her own.

It was foolishness, that's what it was.

She put the glasses on.

* * *

Miyoshi Youko trudged up the road from the bus stop. Her ever present smirk was long gone, replaced by a frown. For days now, she had felt like someone was watching her every move. Hanging out with her group, eating, talking, walking along the street...she had been jumping at shadows now for _days_...! Even since before Tsuruko had shown up out of nowhere and threatened her on the second day! And now she had to face _this, _being summoned by the Shinmeiryu to report here to their headquarters to receive their judgment, and she was most definitely _not_ looking forward to it. There was no question of escape, especially since they knew where she stayed in Mahora. If she didn't show, they would have no problem sending their people into Mahora after her, and then someone might get hurt because of her... She growled out a frustrated sigh and began massaging her forehead as she walked.

Youko paused a moment later at the front gate of the compound, where two men in the traditional clothing of Shinmeiryu guards stood.

One of the guards nodded at her. "Stay here for a moment, please," he said while his companion stepped into a nearby guard box and closed the door after him.

Youko watched disinterestedly while the guard picked up a telephone and spoke into it. The guard that had stayed outside eyed her warily, and her frown deepened.

The other guard put down the telephone and came outside. "Someone will arrive in a moment to escort you inside. Please wait here," he said stiffly.

Youko sighed and crouched down and made herself comfortable, leaning back against a nearby pole while the two guards watched her.

After a moment, a smiling young dark haired woman arrived. Youko bowed slightly, and the woman bowed in return, coming up with an even wider smile than before. Much to Youko's surprise, the woman took her hand and lead her into the compound.

The next ten minutes were…strange, to say the least. Of all the things Youko had expected to meet here, guards and prison cells and possibly torture, she had not expected something like this at all. The young woman just babbled on happily as if she didn't even know who Youko was.

"Don't you think so?" the young woman said, and Youko realized she had asked her a question.

"Excuse me?"

"Kyoto is so beautiful in the spring time, don't you think?"

"Er…yes."

"Most people just focus on the sakura, but even after that's all gone there are the animals and plants, and the air just seems so much fresher up here," the woman said. "It always reminds me of when I used to play with Secchan as kids. It's so relaxing, you know?"

Youko didn't know who 'Secchan' was, but she did know what the girl meant about the air and things, so she nodded as the ghost of a smile flickered across her face. The woman smiled wider in response.

Soon, they arrived at the main building, where the woman left Youko in the front room with some servants, and ran off somewhere. Youko, fully expecting to be left there for an hour or more, set herself in a stance that would let her stay put all day with a minimum of discomfort.

She was thinking about the friendly young woman when she was called in ten minutes later..

* * *

"That's a rare combination," Mochizuki Kagami said from her place at a window seat, gesturing toward Abe Aiko and Kondo Kai as they descended the stairs, whispering together.

Endo Haru nodded and took a bite of her parfait.

"Abe Aiko and Kondo Kai, a _very_ rare combination," Kagami said.

Haru nodded again. Kagami was trying to act mysterious again; she did that when she got bored. Well, to be honest, Haru was a bit interested herself. Abe Aiko and Kondo Kai had absolutely nothing in common.

"What do you think, Kimi-san?" Kagami asked, turning to the black haired girl seated at the table behind them.

"Hmm?" Kimi asked as she looked up, her mouth full of parfait.

"Abe-san and Kondo-san, they're going outside together," Kagami said, gesturing with her spoon. She stuck it back into her bowl of ice cream and scooped out a good-sized bite while Kimi looked up and watched the two girls in question walk through the exit.

Kimi looked down at her parfait, back up at the retreating duo, and back down at her parfait again, as if making a weighty decision. She groaned, passed her parfait to Haru, and was out the door a moment later.

"Remind me to thank her later," Haru said as she dug in.

* * *

The gynoid Rally Wheeler followed the two girls walking in front of her.

'Possum-san has a slight limp in her left leg, though she does not appear to notice this.' She saved the video file in her recently created 'Friend Possum' folder. 'Taro-san has no visible injuries.' She snapped a high definition picture of Taro's face as the girl turned briefly to glance back at her and saved it to her recently created 'Friend Taro' folder. It was nice, having friends, she decided. 'Onee-chan, I have come far,' she thought as a single drop of laser fluid leaked from her right side ocular device.

* * *

"I reeeeeally don't want to go back there," Kondo Kai whined as she sat down on a nearby bench. She heaved a sigh; the two of them were completely and utterly lost, and they had only been walking for ten minutes...! 'Stupid Aiko...she should know her home city, right? What kind of person doesn't know their home city?'

"You don't have a choice, and neither do I," Abe Aiko said bitterly as she looked at the crude map she had made earlier. "I think the shrine was this way," she said after a moment, pointing down an unfamiliar street.

The two of them continued on, completely lost.

* * *

Sato Gin had been prowling around the lobby for the last half hour, trying to find someone that would be willing to search out some real onmyoji with her. Unfortunately, and perhaps understandably, none of the others she had asked thus far had seemed willing to wander around the city's back roads and secret places, looking for magicians. The very idea sounded ludicrous to most of them.

However…

Mako Sylvester came down the stairs so quietly that no one marked her approach. She knew exactly what the white haired girl wanted, and…well…she was a bit interested as well. She came up behind Sato as she sat alone at a table, drumming her fingers on the table top. "I will go with you."

* * *

Kagami and Haru continued their people watching from their table by the window until Sato's startled shout caught their attention. "Oh, look at that," Kagami said. "If Ono-san joined them they'd be the creepy trio."

Haru nearly choked on Kimi's parfait. It was mean, true, but it was also very much correct. Ono Ran, Mako Sylvester, and Sato Gin were all strange girls, even in a class as unusual as their own. Ono Ran was rather infamous for her eerily accurate fortune telling, so much so that few were willing to be around her any longer than necessary. Mako Sylvester was an odd half-Japanese, half-American who had a habit of moving around silently and offering oddly appropriate comments, though they often seemed more like non sequiturs until everything came together later. Sato Gin, with her low voice and intense stare, often scared others with her mere presence. Some of her classmates thought this might be a joke on Sato-san's part; a sort of 'Ha! I got you back!' The girl never seemed to realize she had done anything afterward, however.

"And there they go," Kagami said as she poked at her recently ordered parfait. "I'm kinda curious. Do you want to follow them?" she asked.

Haru glanced up at her. "You should just let it be," she said as she finished her third parfait of the day.

Kagami nodded after a moment. The two weird girls were out of sight around a corner already, and she didn't want to get lost in Kyoto. "Do you want this?" she asked as she nudged the mostly uneaten parfait across the table. Heaven knew the poor girl needed some dairy products...

The athletic girl took a long, measuring look at the treat, and nodded.

* * *

Recalling Takamichi's worrying words about Eishun's health, Negi and Kamo had decided to visit him as well as Negi's former students Konoe Konoka and Sakurazaki Setsuna on the final day of the class trip. It was meant to be nothing more than a simple friendly visit, so Negi was understandably surprised when a pair of guards stopped him at the main gate to the Konoe estate and denied him entry.

"I am sorry Springfield-sama. Master and the Ojou-sama are currently sitting in judgment and are not to be disturbed under any circumstances," one of the guards said in an apologetic tone.

"Sitting in judgment? What happened?" Negi asked as Kamo perked up on his shoulder.

The two guards glanced at each other, then back at Negi before one of them spoke. "I am only telling you this because you are a close friend of Ojou-sama, so please do not mention it to anyone else." He paused a moment and looked around to make sure no one else was listening in, then lowered his voice. "A criminal escaped some time ago and was only today recaptured. Master and Ojou-sama are deciding the criminal's fate as we speak."

"I see," Negi said, deflated. He had been looking forward to this visit; it would be a shame to have come all the way to Kyoto without seeing the two of them. 'Konoka has come far…I'm glad she is doing so well,' he thought to himself. "Please let her know I visited, okay?"

The guards nodded, and Negi turned to go, almost running into a woman who had ghosted up behind him.

"Hello Negi-dono, ermine-san."

The woman standing before him was familiar, Negi thought; she resembled Akira…oh. "Hello, Motoko-san. How are you?" Negi asked politely; he hadn't seen Motoko Aoyama, Tsuruko's younger sister and the one who would lead the Shinmeiryu in the future, in several years. Kamo raised a paw in greeting from Negi's shoulder.

"Let's walk," she said, then smiled faintly and led them past the guards, who bowed, and on into the estate grounds.

They walked in silence for a few moments, Motoko following quietly while Negi stopped from time to time to inspect the various rocks, gardens, ponds, flowering plants, and whatnot. She finally spoke up when Negi stopped in the middle of a small garden to look at an unusual statue.

"So Negi-dono, what brings you to this part of Kyoto?" Motoko asked.

"I just wanted to visit Eishun-san and my old students. I haven't seen Konoka-san or Setsuna-san since they graduated. We have written each other, but…it's not the same as a face to face meeting," Negi said.

"I understand," Motoko said. She took a quick look around, then took Negi's hand. "Come with me, and try to remain silent."

Negi, surprised, nodded and allowed himself to be led into a small side building attached to the main house.

"Here, put this on," Motoko said as she pushed a few items of clothing into Negi's hands. She went to the door and looked out. "Time is of the essence."

Negi nodded and began to put on the simple, rugged servant's clothing Motoko had given him without comment. She obviously had something in mind, and since she had never seemed the sort to set up practical jokes…

"Why do I need to wear this?" he asked as he adjusted his wig. Kamo climbed up his arm and resumed his place on Negi's shoulder.

"Call it repayment for a favor and leave it at that," she said. "Besides, we can't have someone spotting you when outsiders are not permitted in the compound, can we? Are you ready?" Negi nodded, so she took his hand again and led him from the room and through several passages, taking turns apparently at random until Negi found himself hopelessly lost.

"Haven't we passed that suit of armor already?" he asked a moment later, but Motoko didn't respond as she continued on.

Finally, she stopped in front of a door and motioned for Negi to be silent. When she opened it to reveal a small storage room, he began to fidget.

"Um…Motoko-san…"

"Shh," Motoko said, suddenly standing behind him with a hand clapped firmly over his mouth.

"Mmm Mm!" Negi tried to say as he struggled to escape. 'How can she be so strong?' he thought as he tried to get away. Motoko's grip was like steel, however, as she wrestled him into the dark storage room. She kicked him lightly in the back of both legs to knock him to his knees, then knelt down on top of his lower legs while she closed the door, blocking out all light from the room and preventing him from rising. 'Is…is this how it ends? In a dark room with Motoko-san…? Oh, what would Stan say? What about Anya? _What about Asuna_?' he thought, shuddering in horror at how the fiery redhead would respond to the news. He froze immediately when Motoko breathed on his ear, then shivered.

"Stay quiet," she said, her voice impossibly low and husky sounding. Negi shivered again, but nodded, and Motoko released him. He heard the movement of clothing and cursed his horrible luck to be born an impossibly attractive bishonen type. "Please…just…just make it quick," he whispered pleadingly.

The sound of one piece of wood scraping against another filled the room, and light flooded in. Negi, blinking, spotted Motoko over by the opposite wall, where a tiny square hole in the wall let in light. She was grinning at him. More than that, she was trying to hold back laughter, and _her eyes were watering with the effort_…!

_You tricked me!_ he mouthed, and she doubled over, spasms of silent laughter racking her body while Negi became an interesting shade of red normally reserved for stop signs and M&Ms. She hadn't done this sort of thing any other time...! He gave her a reproachful look, but her amusement only grew.

When Motoko finally got herself back under control she peeked into the tiny hole in the wall, then motioned for Negi to come forward and look. She put a finger to her lips to remind him to be quiet, then moved out of the way so he could look.

Negi put his eye up to the hole.

* * *

Youko waited with dread as the guards opened the door and led her into a truly enormous room full of guards and fancy decoration with no furniture but three chairs and a small table at the far end. She gulped back her terror at what these people might do as the guards led her to a well worn spot in the center of the floor and took their places beside her. She looked from one to the other, but neither would look at her. And then…nothing happened. She stood there squirming for a good five minutes before a door in the far wall opened to reveal none other than the girl she had met at the gate earlier, now transformed into some sort of Japanese royalty. Youko had never paid much attention to the ridiculous ins and outs of the Japanese nobility, but that didn't mean she couldn't recognize a princess when she saw one. She didn't realize she was gaping until one of the guards told her to bow.

When she was instructed to raise her head, the girl was seated, as well as an older man she didn't recognize wearing much plainer, but still incredibly formal, garb. Judging from the way everything seemed focused on him, he was probably in charge here. She immediately began scanning around for escape routes, but one of the guards, this one a young woman with an odd sideways ponytail, caught her eyes and held them, and Youko realized that the girl was a youkai. Youko started to sweat.

The man began to speak. "Youko Ninetales, you have been charged with escaping your confinement through trickery and deceit, after being placed there two hundred and ninety eight years ago by the council of the time." He looked at her sternly, then continued. "The punishment for this crime for a being such as you, handed down from our forefathers, was traditionally one hundred lashes in the town square on the first day, followed by fifty lashes on the first of each week for two months, accompanied by an additional period of confinement. You are aware of this, correct?"

Youko gulped again and twitched her head to indicate she had not been aware of it.

The man started to speak again, but the girl Youko had met earlier chose that moment to speak up. "Wait, father," she said, putting a hand on his arm. "This is a different era, and I do not feel that such a punishment is suited to the crime."

Youko's jaw dropped. It seemed to be a fairly well practiced scene…were they making fun of her?

"Very well, what do you believe should be done, daughter?" Eishun replied.

"Hmm…" the girl said as she stood up from her chair and approached Youko, one hand stroking her chin thoughtfully as she walked. She circled Youko twice, then paused in front of her and looked her directly in the eye, their faces inches apart.

"Hmmmmm…," she said again. "Daddy tells me you almost destroyed part of Kyoto and killed some innocent people," she said.

Youko cringed back a little, but otherwise stood her ground and muttered something.

"What? I couldn't hear you," the girl said.

"I said I didn't kill them, it was the other one," Youko said reluctantly, avoiding the girl's eyes.

"The other one? Who is that?"

"He was another youkai like me," Youko said. "A fox. Only, he was gold instead of silver."

The girl looked at Youko for a moment, then stepped back, an exaggerated expression of thoughtfulness on her face. "Hmm…," she said for the third time, then looked abruptly over to the side at something on the wall. Youko saw her grin slightly.

* * *

Negi blinked. Uh-oh... Konoka had spotted them. He wasn't sure what the punishment was for spying on an official trial or judgment or whatever this sort of thing was called, but he just hoped it wouldn't be anything like the shocking punishment his student Youko-san had gone through already.

And _that_ little revelation had been a shock as well. Youko-san, the fun-loving girl that always grinned at him from her spot near the back of the class, liked to tease her classmates, and enjoyed pranks was actually a youkai? And not only that, but a fox youkai? Somehow the image seemed to fit her, true, but it was still completely unexpected. The whole three-hundred-years-old thing was quite a shock as well.

Negi looked through the hole at Setsuna, and saw she was grinning slightly as well and looking directly at him. He held back a hoarse laugh and watched Konoka go back to her fancy chair and sit down.

* * *

"Have you reached a decision, daughter?" Eishun asked, again far too polished to be anything short of a long practiced question that had been asked many times.

Konoka eyed Youko. "Hmm…" she said yet again. She abruptly straightened up, suddenly imperious and regal in her bearing, looking for all the world like a queen staring down the lowliest peasant.

"I have made my decision," she announced, her voice full and echoing in the large chamber. "The prisoner known as Youko Ninetales has served a punishment only partially hers. I deem her fit to return to society, with certain caveats. Secchan, bring our guests around to the front, I wish to speak with them," she said, ignoring the shocked look on the fox youkai's face and the approving look on her father's. "Oh, Youko-san," she said suddenly as she turned and pinned the fox girl in place with her gaze. "I would like to speak with you when our guests are brought around, please remain where you are for now."

Youko nodded dumbly, her expression like that of a deer staring down an oncoming eighteen wheeler.

* * *

Negi backed away from the peephole and stood up. Motoko rose with him and turned to the door just as it opened, revealing none other than Setsuna.

"Hello sensei, Kamo-kun, sempai," Setsuna said pleasantly.

"Hello, Setsuna-san," Negi said.

"Hello Setsuna-ane-san," Kamo said from Negi's shoulder.

Motoko grinned widely at her. "You were much quicker to notice this time, well done."

Setsuna blushed slightly at the praise as she turned and led the trio through several passageways.

"How are you two? I wanted to come for a visit before now, but things have been hectic," Negi said apologetically after a moment as he removed his wig.

"Asuna hasn't told you?" Setsuna asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Well…" Setsuna trailed off.

"I am surprised you didn't know," Motoko broke in. "Little 'Secchan' here has finally made a permanent pactio with Konoka-ojou-sama."

"Really? That's great! I'm so happy for you!" Negi gushed as Setsuna became a distressingly bright shade of red.

"Way to go, nee-san!" Kamo cheered. "I knew you two had a temporary pactio for years, but this is unexpected!"

"Th-thankyou," Setsuna mumbled. After walking for a moment, they arrived before a door, which Setsuna opened to reveal a room with racks full of civilian clothing. "Please change your clothing to something more appropriate than what the servants wear," she requested.

Negi nodded and did so.

When they finally arrived before the big double doors leading to the room they had been peeking into moments before, Negi straightened up and gave himself a quick look. Everything seemed to fit properly, but…why was Kamo suddenly on Motoko's shoulder?

"Prepare yourself," Setsuna said as she opened the door and led Negi inside, where Youko and Konoka were talking quietly. Youko froze up on seeing Negi and started to sweat again.

Konoka, on the other hand, launched herself at Negi, laughing as she hit him with a perfect running tackle hug that knocked him to the floor and drove the air from his lungs. "Negi-kun!"

Kamo sweatdropped on Motoko's shoulder. "Aniki…"

Negi smiled up at Konoka in all her ceremonial finery. "Hello, Konoka-san."

"Konoka, is that any way for the Konoe heir to behave?" Setsuna said reprovingly as she offered Konoka a hand up. She couldn't help but smile when Konoka looked up at her.

* * *

When everything had been sorted out, Eishun and Motoko dismissed themselves and took the guards with them, leaving Negi and Kamo alone in the room with Konoka, Setsuna, and Youko.

"Sensei…um…" Youko said.

"Yes, Youko-san?"

Youko couldn't help but stare at him. He was _smiling_ at her…! With…with his face! That shouldn't be allowed when she was feeling so vulnerable…! "I'm sorry I didn't tell you. About me, I mean. You seem like a nice person and I don't want to offend you, but…," she said, trailing off as her thoughts raced, trying to come up with an inoffensive way of saying it wasn't any of his business.

Negi put a comforting hand on her shoulder, and she had to fight to keep from latching on to him. "It's okay, I understand, Youko-san. There are some things that must be kept secret."

Konoka and Setsuna nodded sagely at that, and Youko squirmed.

"I think I need to tell you some things," she said after a moment, then looked pleadingly at the two women.

"Hmm…I think I have some paperwork to do," Konoka said quickly as she clutched Setsuna's arm to her chest. "Come on, Secchan!" She dragged the suddenly spluttering swordswoman from the room, stopping at the door long enough to look back at Youko. "Good luck, Youko-chan!"

Youko was left slack jawed. Youko-chan? _Youko-chan_? That little pipsqueak…! How dare she…!

"You had something to tell me, Youko-san?" Negi asked gently.

Youko reluctantly faced her teacher. "Sensei, I don't know where to begin, but…"

Negi looked at her thoughtfully. "What exactly _are_ you? That's as good a place to start as any," he offered. Kamo, once again seated on Negi's shoulder, nodded his agreement.

Youko nodded and started talking, her eyes straying to the ermine on Negi's shoulder. 'It understands what I'm saying!' "That's true. I am a…a fox youkai, I suppose you could say. From the Silver Fox Clan. I know some people call the youkai demons, but that's not true! We may be similar in some respects, but it's no more accurate than saying a human is the same as an elf!" she said defensively, settling down into a more comfortable position as Negi did the same. "But anyway, I don't know when I was born, only that it was a long, long time ago. During the early years of the Tokugawa Shogunate I decided to leave the secluded valley that had been my home and see the world. It just so happened that in the year 1709 I arrived in Kyoto and ended up in the service of the head of the Shinmeiryu, a stupid man named Saburo…"

* * *

**_Omake_**

The door to Negi's apartment slammed open, bounced off the wall, and slammed shut again, giving Asuna and Makie perhaps half a second to see a dark haired woman with a sideways ponytail on the other side of the door. Asuna blinked once, twice, then the door was kicked open again and Yuuna stepped in with a big backpack on her back, a heavy travel bag in each hand, and a third, larger bag hanging from one shoulder with the strap lying diagonally across her chest.

Yuuna looked around, took a deep breath, and began her speech. "Negi! I have returned after two years from a whirlwind tour of every war museum in America and Europe, with knowledge of battle! Yes! I have become strong, and…uh…" Yuuna seemed to see Asuna and Makie for the first time. "Hey, where's Negi?"

Asuna raised an eyebrow as she looked at the other woman. "Kyoto. They had the class trip there again." She calmly took a sip of the tea Makie had made earlier.

Yuuna slumped and dropped her bags on the floor. "Aw man, I was looking forward to coming back and sweeping Negi off his feet. Damn."

Makie held out a tea cup and smiled brightly. "Would you like some tea?"

Yuuna stood there for a moment, cocked her head to the side, and nodded. "Sure."

* * *

_**Author's Note**: And there's another one down, along with a few big revelations. The Kyoto arc is picking up speed! _

_Also, more character profiles!_

* * *

Mako Sylvester - Student number 7

Born - 1/20/1995

Height - 5'9"

Library Club

Likes: Ghost stories

Dislikes: Crowded places

Roommate: Suzuki Keiko

Little Known Facts: She hates that everyone thinks she's scary, but has no idea what to do about it.

* * *

Inoue Ai - Student number 19

Born -0 8/27/1994

Height - 5'7"

Theatre Club

Likes: Natsumi-sempai, acting

Dislikes: People who don't appreciate hard work

Roommate: Miyoshi Youko

Little Known Facts: She is fairly good with computers, and is considered to be pretty 'out there' by most of her class.


	14. Ch 12 Kyoto pt 4

**Still Waters 3, Chapter 11, Kyoto Trip Part 4**

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* * *

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_Once I Rose Above The Noise And Confusion, Just To Get A Glimpse Beyond This Illusion_

_

* * *

_

Kara strode purposefully along the sidewalk, keeping her eyes peeled for anything that might hint at the presence of the Shinmeiryu. Thus far, two hours of walking had produced nothing useful and she was beginning to despair of finding anything at all. Her mother would not be pleased.

She sat down on a nearby bench to give her aching feet a break and again took out the page of Shinmeiryu symbols her mother had sent. She sighed as she scanned the symbols on the page again; she had spotted several around the city, true…but each example had seemingly been placed at random, with nothing to indicate any meaning behind its placement. A few of them had simply been carved on old-style wooden signposts in the middle of vacant lots, for goodness sakes. Placed there for what purpose, to throw off pursuit? To confuse anyone trying to find them? Boredom?

Kara heaved another long-suffering sigh and debated with herself on whether or not to fake a letter about her own death, just to get her mother off her back. Unfortunately, common sense won out in the end and she dropped that line of thought.

She had resorted to glaring at random passersby to make herself feel better when she saw her.

The woman was fairly tall with short hair and wore the outlandish clothing Kara associated with kendo people in anime and manga. The weird red pants, the white shirt…the sword. 'How does she get away with carrying something like _that_ around in the open…?' By all means, she was dressed like one of the Shinmeiryu.

Kara waited until the woman was a sufficient distance away, then stood up and followed.

* * *

"Kondo-san," Abe Aiko said, her voice stern like a mother's. "There is no point in standing there like that."

"I don't wanna go!" Kondo Kai said, planting her feet as she spoke so Aiko couldn't tug her another inch.

Aiko sighed as she watched the other girl adjust her hoodie again. She had been ordered to report to the Seimei Shrine and to bring the oni girl, her classmate Kondo Kai, with her. And, so far, Kai was not making it easy.

"Look Kondo-san, I don't know what your problem is, but we don't have a choice here. We _have_ to go; there's no getting out of it. They will have no problem sending people after us!"

"I don't care! I don't have anything to do with this, it's all your fault! Go on by yourself, I'm not going anywhere but back to the hotel," Kai said with an air of obstinate finality.

"Kondo-san…!" Aiko said. She knew for a fact that Kai wasn't stupid, but sometimes the girl seemed to lock up her mind and stick to a decision even if it _was_ stupid. It was incredibly irritating. Aiko's lips drew out to a thin line as she contemplated the infamous oni stubbornness. They could be so…so _infuriating_ at times…!

"Hello, oni-san~"

Both girls whirled around in surprise to face the newcomer. He was quite tall and thin and had almost feline features; he was dressed in the traditional clothing of the Shinmeiryu.

"I'm from the Shinmeiryu, ne? And I was hired by the Abe clan to ensure your arrival, oni-san, Abe-san," he said, looking from one to the other as he spoke. He bore an insufferable grin that gave Aiko the impression he was keeping some amusing secret all to himself. "So, if you will come with me~...?"

"Her name is Kondo-san!" Abe said defiantly as she eyed the man. She frowned; this guy was just _creepy_.

"Kondo-san, oni-san, it's all the same, ne?" he asked, his grin widening enough to show his oddly pointed canines. "_Isn't it_?"

Aiko shrank back a little, unsure of how to respond.

Kai just watched the man. "You're not from the Abe clan, are you?" she asked quietly.

The man's grin became a frown.

"You're one of those monsters, aren't you? Who did you kill to get those clothes?" Kai asked, taking Aiko's arm as she started backing away.

His grin returned and he growled in goodnatured anticipation.

* * *

Yamamoto Kimi had been following her roommate Abe-san and the musician Kondo-san through the maze of streets that made up Kyoto for almost ten minutes when someone abruptly charged out of an alley and knocked her over into the street, where she bumped her head on the asphalt.

"Oh wow, I'm sorry about that, you know? I didn't mean to knock you down like that."

Kimi pushed herself up and crawled out of the strangely deserted road with the help of the newcomer. Her head was still ringing and it felt like something wet was on her face. She clumsily wiped her face with her hand. 'Yeah, that's blood.' She looked up at the person who had run into her and was surprised to see a young girl, perhaps eleven or twelve, smiling at her as her head swam. Kimi's eyes went straight to the girl's oddly shaped knit cap. Cat ears? 'Maybe I hit my head harder than I thought,' she thought as she shook her head to clear it, then staggered. 'Bad idea...'

"Oh no! You're bleeding! Come on, we'll take you to my big brother, he'll know what to do," the girl said gleefully as she helped Kimi regain her balance.

Kimi hesitated. Something about this didn't feel right, but because of her bump on the head she couldn't think clearly enough to put her finger on it. The girl offered her hand, so Kimi took it and pulled herself to her feet. She swayed for a moment, trying to regain her balance, and began dabbing at the small cut on her forehead with her handkerchief. "It's bleeding…" she said, her thoughts still slow and thick.

"Yep!" the girl said, still holding her hand.

Kimi looked around. Aiko and Kondo-san were gone, out of sight around some corner, probably. She groaned in frustration. It would have been better if she had never stepped foot outside the hotel. "I've got to go back," she said, staggering against a light pole as she turned around.

"Nope! I know _just_ where you need to go, come on~" the girl said in a singsong tone as she tugged Kimi off balance.

"Stop that…" Kimi said as she tugged back ineffectively. The little girl had a very strong grip…

"Hehehe~" She tugged again and Kimi was jerked several steps forward, into the side of a building.

"Wait-" Kimi said, staggering as she tried to regain her balance.

"No time for waiting, you need to come with me," the girl said as she took off at a quick walk, dragging Kimi behind her.

"Wait! Slow down-"

"No time, you know?" the girl said as she glanced back.

For a fraction of a second, Kimi had a clear view of the girl's bright yellow eyes and pointed teeth. There was just enough time for a flash of terror to streak through her like a bolt of lightning before she was yanked off her feet and into a deserted alleyway, dragged along by the girl's steel grip on her wrist.

* * *

Kai and Aiko ran through the back streets of Kyoto, totally lost as the creepy man flitted about and chased them from the shadows. Going from alley to alley, street to street, stumbling through refuse-lined side streets, only to have the man suddenly appear at the far end as if by magic, forcing them to run down another street toward some unknown destination. They were being driven like terrified cattle, and Aiko didn't like it one bit. She took the first opportunity she saw and pulled Kai into a recess between two buildings.

"Kondo-san, what do we do?" she asked, out of breath and terrified.

The oni-girl was frantic as well. "I don't know, I don't know! I've never been here before, I don't know this city at all! And it's not like we can get the teachers or any of the others involved, they'll just get killed," she said worriedly as she contemplated her cell phone.

"You're an oni, right? Why don't you fight him?" Aiko asked as she peeked around the corner of a building, watching for the scary man's inevitable reappearance. Something fell noisily in an alley down the street and she jumped.

"Wha…Well that's rude! Just because I'm an oni, I'm violent?"

"Hey, hey, is that really okay? I'm going to eat you up if you just sit there like that, ne~?" came a voice from above. Aiko shrieked as Kai grabbed her arm and ran screaming down the street away from the man, who watched them flee with a toothy grin.

* * *

"Come _on_, Aiko-chan, faster! We have to _move_!" Kai shouted at the shorter girl, who had her hand in a shaky, clammy deathgrip. They whipped around a corner, Kai grabbing a light pole with her free hand to assist, and ran straight into the man they were trying to escape. Aiko was thrown flailing into a wall and hit the ground in an unmoving, groaning lump while Kai was shoved painfully to the ground.

The man stood up and took a few steps back, an expression of goodnatured amusement on his face. He waited for Kai to make some threatening move or open her mouth to threaten or complain, and smiled when she remained still and silent; though she did manage a shaky glare.

"Good girl. I don't need you. You did make for a good chase though… Go away and hide for a while. If you bother me again, I'll kill you~" he said as he looked down at her.

Kai looked at Aiko crumpled on the ground beside a condemned building, then back up at the man. "W-what are you going to do to her?" she asked in fear and frustration as her eyes began to tear up.

He grinned, showing his fangs again, and laughed. "Whatever I want. Don't worry, I won't kill her," he added when he saw her worried expression. "Go on, there's nothing more you can do for her, ne?"

Kai glanced at Aiko-chan again and saw the girl looking back at her helplessly through a haze of pain and confusion.

Kai turned away and her tears started to flow in earnest as a deep sense of shame joined the pure terror that ripped through her.

The man laughed, picked up the other girl, and jumped away to the rooftops, where he made his escape.

"Dammit…" Kai said venomously as she pounded her fist into the pavement. "Dammit!"

She was crying hard, now. She sat up, pulled her knees up, and rested her head on her arms as she cried. She remained there for a good ten minutes, sobbing into her shirt sleeves and cursing herself for being such a worthless coward before a new voice startled her back to reality.

"Kondo-san, what happened?"

Kai looked up at the newcomer, her eyes widening. If anyone could help, _she_ could…!

* * *

Kara followed the short haired kendo woman for quite some time; across crowded intersections, around corners, through narrow, ancient streets, until suddenly…the woman was no longer there.

Kara paused for a moment, frozen by confusion, and almost moved too late as a long nail thudded into the wall just above her left ear. She ducked and rolled, and came up with her hand hidden in the pocket of her slacks as her eyes scanned the alley. 'Judging by the angle of the nail, it must have come from…there." She launched a few throwing spikes of her own, but there was no response until she heard a sound behind her. She instinctively turned her head, knew it was a fatal mistake, and drew her knives, barely managing to block the sword that came whistling down from the front with her crossed blades.

The tall, long haired woman looking down at her eyed her seriously as her sword bore down. Kara locked eyes with her and did her best to stand her ground, though her knees began to shake and buckle under the force the woman was using. How could she be so _strong_?

"That was a good block," the woman said conversationally, not letting up the pressure in the least.

"I was stupid to fall for that diversion," Kara replied, a little strain creeping into her voice.

"We all make mistakes," the woman said, her tone friendly in a professional sort of way as her instrument of death came closer to the student's head with an excruciating slowness.

Kara grunted as the pressure increased and fell to one knee. "Yes."

"Such mistakes can be fatal," the woman said.

"Y-yes," Kara repeated, the physical strain she was under coming through in her voice clearly this time.

They remained in that position for a moment longer, then Kara lurched to the side, directing the force behind the woman's sword to the ground; the sword buried itself deep into the road as Kara staggered to her feet to escape.

The stranger was too quick for her, however; she had already whirled around and drove her elbow hard into Kara's face and sent her glasses flying.

Kara stood up on her toes, took a half dozen staggering steps back, another step…another…another…and, all but unconscious, tripped over a curb and hit the ground hard.

She lay there for what seemed an eternity, black slowly creeping in around the corners of her vision, and then the long haired woman was standing above her, looking down. The short haired one appeared after a moment as well.

"Do you know her, Motoko-han?"

Kara watched from what seemed a great distance away as the short haired one shook her head. "I do not recognize her, sister. Is she wearing some sort of uniform…?"

"I do not know. Perhaps…"

Their voices faded to a drone as consciousness slipped away.

* * *

Some time later, Sato Gin glared at the man seated before her. He was hiding something, she could feel it.

"If you don't show me what I want…" she said threateningly, her piercing green eyes pinning him to the spot.

The man looked from the creepy white haired girl to the other, much quieter girl standing off to the side for help. She glanced at him, shook her head, and shrugged her shoulders as if to say she couldn't do anything about it. The white haired girl put a hand on his shoulder, so he turned back to her.

"Tell me!"

"I don't know!" he said, standing up and rudely shaking her hand off. "If you don't go away, I will call the police!"

"If you call the police, I'll curse you," she stated with a look that said she was perfectly willing and able to do so.

The man stiffened and fought back. "Girl, if you claim to curse me, I'll get the Abe clan after you…!" he threatened. _That_ seemed to get the girl to back off. "I don't know anything about any onmyoji or magic or anything. I don't know anyone who does, outside of the people who run all those tourist traps downtown. So GET THE HELL OUT OF MY HOUSE!"

Sato stepped outside reluctantly, and the other girl bowed to the man and paused long enough to give a brief apology for the white haired girl's behavior before she, too, exited.

"Nicely done, uncle," Aoyama Motoko said as she stepped out of a back room. She had arrived just before the two girls.

"I'm not yer uncle," the man said gruffly. He was as good as one, though. A distant relative of the Aoyama family, he had been around Tsuruko and Motoko often when they were children, but had only recently returned to Kyoto. "Sorry about that, those two have been poking around over at Ichi's place too." He heaved a weary sigh and settled down to a comfortable position. "You're late. I was expecting you an hour ago."

"My apologies, it has been a busy day. There was an…incident earlier. My sister is taking care of it," Motoko replied. "Do you have the manuscripts I asked for?"

"Yeah, here ya go," he said, plopping a tied stack of paper-wrapped rectangles on the table in front of her. "Copies of the original works of Abe no Seimei, the only existing uncensored version left in the whole prefecture, maybe even this side of Japan."

"You have my thanks," Motoko said as she lifted the stack and shifted it to a more comfortable position

"What about my fee? That wasn't easy to get," he said, pointing at the stack.

"Speak with my sister about payment," Motoko said offhandedly. "I'll see you later, uncle."

"Yeah yeah, I'm not yer uncle," he said again as she left.

* * *

"There! There's a likely looking one!" Sato Gin said as she watched the woman in traditional dress exit the man's house. She and Mako Sylvester had been hiding in the space between two buildings nearby; Sato _knew _the man had known something he wasn't telling...! "Let's follow her."

Mako sighed and followed behind as Sato led the way. She hadn't really expected to find any magicians, but she hadn't expected to become a stalker today, either.

* * *

"Hey, niiiiii-saaaaaaaaan," the girl called out as she dragged her prize into the old warehouse that was her home. "I got something for youuuuu!"

"Hmm? Ryoko?" came a male voice. The red haired man exited a small storage room off to the side and looked around.

"See? See?" Ryoko said, dragging a large burlap sack to the middle of the floor. She nudged it with her foot several times until it started moving.

He knelt down and untied the string around the top, and opened the bag. "Hmm? Isn't this the one I told you to scare away?"

Ryoko nodded. "Kichirou-nii, I know you wanted me to get rid of her but it looked like she wouldn't stay away if I just chased her off, so I took the initiative, you know?"

"I know," he said, petting the girl's head through her knit cap while she broke out in a purr.

He dumped the contents of the bag out and looked it over. The human girl was quite short, and probably very young. No more than thirteen or fourteen, most likely. He had seen her following his target earlier, so had asked Ryoko to get rid of her somehow…the girl could have been a problem. Still…it seemed a dangerous thing in such modern times, kidnapping a person. Things just weren't the way they used to be, ne? As distasteful as it was, maybe he should have told Ryoko to just kill her.

He looked the girl over again and caught her glaring at him. Luckily, Ryoko had thought to stuff a piece of cloth into her mouth and tie it in place to keep the girl from crying out. He looked at the bindings on the girl's wrists and ankles as well; they looked solid enough. "You're good at this, Ryoko."

His sister beamed at him. "Yep! I practiced!"

* * *

Kimi glared her fiercest glare at the red headed man and the girl. She would have given them an earful as well if she hadn't been gagged. With her hands and feet securely tied, all she could do was wait for them to untie her, so she bided her time.

Until, that is, she heard their plans for her.

"I haven't done anything like that before, are you sure you know what you're talking about, Ryoko?"

"Yep! Masashi-sama said all the bakeneko used to do it."

'Bakeneko?' Kimi thought as she listened in. 'Monster cat?'

"But actually eating someone?" Kichirou asked. "That's just an old wive's tale, something we say to scare people. I get full eating a bowl of ramen, how is one of us supposed to eat something that big? I think Masashi-sama is playing a prank on you."

Kimi turned her head to look at her captors and spotted the bakeneko man holding his hat in one hand and scratching the top of his head with the other. 'He has cat ears,' Kimi thought with a strange sort of fascination that drove everything else from her mind for a moment. It was just such an alien concept to see such a thing on an actual, real live person that she found herself staring in wide eyed amazement at the two of them. The ears looked fuzzy…she kind of wanted to touch them. Then she recalled what had caught her attention in the first place-_Eating someone? All the bakeneko used to do it_-and she began squirming around, trying to inchworm her way to the door. It sounded ridiculous, true…but she had already seen some unbelievable things today, and it was barely two o'clock. Unfortunately, the girl stepped in front of her, barring her way.

"Ah, ah, ah-hh~" the girl said, waving her finger as if she were scolding a child. "You'll just have to hang around here a while, you know? Come on~!" she said cheerily as she grabbed one of Kimi's arms and dragged her toward the bag she had been dumped out of moments ago. "I'll just put you back in here for now~"

Kimi struggled as hard as she could, but Ryoko was just too strong and she was soon trapped in the bag again.

"Come on~ Kichirou-nii! You caught that girl you were after, right? Abe-san? Let me see!"

Kimi listened frantically in her bag as the duo walked away.

"Okay Ryoko. She's asleep in the other room. Let's go wake her up, Masashi-sama should be here soon, and after that fox got away from him he will definitely wa...to…" the rest faded into a drone as they went out of earshot. Kimi began frantically squirming around, trying to get her arms in front of her so she could at least look at how she was tied. If she could do that, she could see how to untie herself; and from there, how to escape.

* * *

Sato Gin hurried along, trying to keep the mysterious woman in sight, until suddenly…she was gone. Sato paused and Mako Sylvester, no longer paying attention to the white haired girl, bumped into her and quickly jumped back, shaking her head.

"She's gone," Sato said in surprise, looking around wildly, trying to catch a glimpse of the woman they had been following.

"You really are…" Mako muttered to herself, catching Sato in a scrutinizing gaze.

"Hmm? Anyway, she's gone. How annoying…she was the best lead we've come across so far," Sato grumbled as she looked up and down the road.

Mako reached out hesitantly and lightly touched Sato's arm, trembled for a moment, and backed away out of reach. "You…"

Sato, confused, gave the other weird girl an odd look. "Something wrong?"

"You are a mage," Mako said after a moment. "Your…mother? No, your great aunt. She left you…books? Scrolls?"

"...You're not normal either, are you?" Sato said quietly as she looked at her, her earlier excitement replaced by wariness.

Mako got very quiet and looked off to the side somewhere. "You can call it clairsentience or psychometry, but I can…read minds, I guess, or memories, through touch."

A pregnant silence fell between the two girls for a moment.

"That explains a lot," Sato said quietly as she recalled many incidents in which Mako had gone to extremes to avoid contact sports or anything that involved touching others. "I always knew there were others out there, I just didn't know how to find them," she said quietly, her voice cracking. "Do you always have to touch?"

Mako shook her head, her mind racing. Sato-san was a mage, Sato-san was a mage! Maybe she wouldn't be alone anymore…! "Not always. Sometimes it's just a feeling I get. Nothing physical," she added quickly. "I don't know how else to describe it. It's something in my head. It's like I'll just _know_ something, as well as I know my own name," she said, in danger of spilling everything now that she had found someone to listen for the first time in years. She, too, had had an 'unusual' aunt, a brilliant woman who had taught her a great many things.

Someone yelled something in the distance, and Mako suddenly fell silent, her eyes widening. She snatched the end of Sato's shirt sleeve and took off toward the source of the sound. Motoko, who had been spying on them, followed silently.

* * *

"Kondo-san, do you know where he went?" Nakamura Sachiko, the class representative, asked. They had lost the trail of the kidnapper again. Thus far, they had lost it four times, but Kondo-san had always picked it up again somehow, though she hadn't told her just how.

Kondo Kai looked away and nodded. "He went that way," she said, pointing.

Sachiko looked at the other girl for a moment. "How do you know that?"

"I…I can smell him," Kai said, looking away.

Sachiko just looked at her for a moment. Well, _that_ revelation brought up a myriad of questions, but she decided to let them be for now. "I understand. We should be on our way."

Kai looked at her, surprised at the lack of reaction, and started moving.

* * *

"No! Get away from me!" Abe Aiko shouted, smacking away Kichirou's hand. "I'll…I'll kill you!"

Kichirou paused and looked at her in surprise. "You? Kill _me_? That's rich, ne?" He grinned wide as Ryoko giggled. He reached for Aiko's arm again, and she screamed at the top of her lungs, a sound so piercing that it must have been heard for some distance outside. In the other room, Kimi heard the screech and began working more frantically, finally getting part of the knot around her wrists loose.

Kichirou frowned and backed away. "If you bring the police down on us…"

"It's okay," a newcomer said from the doorway. Kichirou and Ryoko turned to look and immediately knelt down.

"Masashi-sama," Kichirou said reverently.

"You have done me a great service; you have my thanks," Masashi said as he knelt down in front of Aiko, who pressed herself against the wall behind her. 'With this girl,' he thought, 'I can do much against the Abe clan…' He could remove one thorn from his side earlier than previously planned and with minimal effort, leaving more resources for his eventual rise to power.

"It's nice to see you again, Abe-san," Masashi said. He smiled gently upon seeing her obvious confusion. "That night when it was raining," he offered, grinning at her.

A memory almost totally faded reignited in Aiko's mind. Just some salaryman, leaning against a wall under an awning as she pedaled up on a borrowed bicycle. _Hey girl, this city can be dangerous_.

She opened her mouth to scream when three doors burst open and four voices spoke in almost the same instant.

"Hold it!"

"Get away from Aiko-chan!"

"I'll save you, Aiko!"

"I command you to stop!"

The three youkai looked at the intruders.

Ryoko glared at Yamamoto Kimi, who had finally managed to untie the ropes and escape. She had found a metal pipe somewhere, and now held it like it was a sword. Upon entering the room, Kimi had taken in the situation in an instant, and had picked her target.

Kichirou faced two girls who stood in an open doorway to the outside. Sato Gin was tall and imposing with white hair and piercing eyes, Mako Sylvester slightly taller with much darker hair and pale blue eyes that looked odd in her face. He growled from somewhere deep in his throat as he glared at them. How dare they interrupt Masashi-sama…!

Masashi cast a quick spell to restrain Aiko and turned to face the final two intruders, both of whom had come inside through the back entrance. "Oni," he said with disgust as he wrinkled his nose at the first, Kondo Kai. The second girl, Nakamura Sachiko, was unusually calm for such a tense standoff situation and for some reason stepped in front of the oni and fixed him with an imperious stare from across the warehouse floor.

"You will release Abe-san immediately," she stated.

Masashi turned and actually extended a hand toward Aiko before he caught himself. "A Commanding Voice…I'm going to kill you," he said as he faced her. "May I ask your name? I need to know what they should put on your memorial."

"Nakamura Sachiko," she said. "May I have yours?"

"O Masashi, the Fox King," he said as he charged.

* * *

Kimi warded off Ryoko's clumsy attack and stepped back, easily avoiding the girl's second blow. 'She's strong. If I get hit even once, it's all over,' she thought as she narrowly avoided a third attempt.

"Stay still!" Ryoko shouted.

"Not a chance," Kimi said as she drove her pipe into the side of the other girl's arm in a blow that should have shattered bone.

"Oww!"

Kimi frowned as she danced back out of reach. Apparently, the weirdo cat girl was very durable as well. 'If I can force her to make a mistake, she will be wide open,' she thought. Well, that was reasonable enough. Ryoko had taken advantage of Kimi's unwariness earlier; the same thing wouldn't happen again.

* * *

Mako Sylvester jumped back and tripped over something on the floor as the red headed cat man leaped forward to attack.

"Gray cement floor, may you disentegrate!" Sato Gin shouted as she dropped to the floor in the man's path and slapped the palm of her hand flat on it. A three foot half-sphere of the floor exploded upward in a cloud of dust and Kichirou, temporarily blinded, fell into the hole, slamming chest-first into the far edge and knocking the wind out of him. "Red haired cat man, may you be paralyzed!" Sato said as she reached for his head.

"Get away from me!" Kichirou screamed breathlessly as he scrambled away. He hadn't expected anything like _this_...! He was loyal to Masashi-sama, but he wasn't quite ready to be paralyzed or disintegrated like that chunk of floor.

Sato stepped around the hole and Kichirou backed away.

"S-stay back!" he shouted frantically, his previous insufferable grin gone without a trace. He glanced back at Ryoko just in time to see her take a vicious downward strike to the top of the head that staggered her, leaving her open for a horrific thrust to the stomach. He whipped his head back toward Sato and scrambled back so quickly he lost his footing and fell.

An agonized shriek cut through the chaos of fighting and dragged everyone's attention to the far end of the warehouse, where Masashi was facing Kondo Kai and Nakamura Sachiko.

* * *

Masashi had been annoyed at most when the outsiders had come in. Four humans and an oni? He and his two servants could handle that. It should be easy, after all. He had killed many humans in his time, and many oni as well. Damn oni! Oh, how he _loathed_ the oni…! They were a blight upon the earth, a living disease infesting what should be his kingdom, useful only as cannon fodder for the vastly superior youkai. And he hated none more than those who lived here in Kyoto, bound to the Abe family. They had turned their backs on all their kind and sided with the humans instead, reduced to performing menial labor when they should be wreaking havoc and weakening the human's grip on his kingdom as his warrior-slaves. Why, he hated the oni almost as much as he hated Youko Ninetales, his only real rival for the throne!

But this human before him, this…this child! She dared to step between him and his target? What did she hope to do, die for her servant? He laughed gleefully as he raced in for the kill.

Sachiko stepped in front of Kai and walked forward a bit until she determined a sufficient space had been created. She took a quick look and judged the opponent was coming in at roughly thirty miles per hour, so she waited an instant, stepped back with her left leg, swung her body around, and…nailed the side of his face hard enough to send him spiraling into the wall, eliciting a shocked screech of pain.

She watched as he lay there on the floor where he had fallen, as if unable to believe what had just happened. When he had regained his feet, he wiped the blood from his nose and gave her such a cold stare that Kondo-san squeaked and scrambled back outside to hide behind the door jamb.

Sachiko just looked at him, her face neutral.

He came at her again, a lower angle this time, so she stepped back with her left leg again, ducked forward slightly in a spin, and drove her heel down into the back of his head and he came by, driving him down to the floor, upon which he skidded several yards.

Masashi lifted himself from the floor, dazed at the sheer speed of it all. He hadn't even had a chance to see what the girl had done…! One moment she had been standing in front of him, the next she had spun aside somehow and he had hit the floor.

He got back to his feet and looked at the human girl again, really _looked_ at her. Just a human…right? But how could she be so fast?

Aiko, shocked, just stared at the class rep. She had had no idea that the quiet, gentle, and elegant class representative was even capable of violence, much less so _good_ at it. But somehow the odd, spinny way of fighting the girl used seemed to fit her perfectly. Aiko became aware of the others, Mako-san in particular, watching Nakamura-san carefully. Aiko turned back to watch as Masashi, as he had been called, got back to his feet.

Masashi came at her again, so Sachiko put him down again. And again, and again, and again.

"DAMN YOU!" he bellowed as he scrambled painfully to his feet, bruised and aching all over. He gave her his fiercest glare, but again it failed to have any effect. Frustrated, he let out a bestial roar and charged again.

This time, Sachiko dropped close to the ground, spun around, and drove the toe of her shoe up into the soft tissue of his throat, a finishing move if ever such a thing existed.

Masashi, carried by his own momentum, spun through the air and hit the floor in a quivering, spastic mess as he clutched at his throat, eyes wide and unseeing in his panic, his face pale.

Sachiko stepped wide around the stricken youkai as Kichirou approached hesitantly. He shied away from her when she looked at him. "Sato-san," she called as she kept an eye on the two youkai.

"Y-yes ma'am!"

"Please use your ability to allow him to breathe again," Sachiko said.

"Yes! I-I'll try!" Sato said as she trotted across the warehouse floor and rudely shoved Kichirou aside so she could examine the suffocating youkai on the floor.

"Please help him! You have to!" Kichirou pleaded, forcing aside his newfound fear of the girl in order to help his master.

Sato peeled back Masashi's hands and frowned at the bruise on his throat. It didn't seen anything in there had been destroyed, just sort of…flattened. "Hold his hands down," she said to Kichirou, and nodded when it was done. She put her hand on Masashi's forehead and forced herself to ignore the terrifying bluish cast his face had taken on as he stared up at her in blank terror. "Cat man, may your trachea not collapse on this day." She waited for a moment, but nothing happened. "It's not working Iincho-san!" she called out, a frantic sound creeping into her voice.

"I believe he is a golden fox," Sachiko said after a moment's contemplation, during which Masashi's struggles grew significantly weaker.

Sato looked at Masashi again. His face was turning a horrible shade of blue. "Gold fox man, may you not suffocate on this day." Everyone watched, curious to see what this girl who could disintegrate floors and paralyze people could do.

Nothing happened.

"He's…but…"

Masashi jerked sharply and inhaled,startling her, the sound coming from his mouth starting out as a pitiful whistle before fleshing out to a healthy gulp of air. He reached up weakly to touch his still-sore throat as he realized he could breathe again. Realization dawned as he recalled what had happened to put him into this state, and he jumped to his feet to go after the stupid human that had done this to him…

…only, he was unable even to sit up, and all his herculean effort accomplished was to make his arms flop once or twice.

Sachiko watched Masashi as he tried and failed pathetically to do more than flail about like a fish out of water while Sato staggered closer to her, tears welling up.

"I-I-I didn't th-think it would wuh-work for a second there," Sato said shakily. She wiped some tears away with the back of her hand, but they were quickly replaced by others.

Sachiko put her arm around the crying girl in what she hoped was a soothing manner, and Sato was reduced to a bawling mess in an instant.

"Thank you, Sato-san," Sachiko said quietly as she eyed the youkai still lying on the floor. "Let's go, everyone."

* * *

In the end, the students went away victorious, having saved their classmates and with no thought for the three youkai left behind in the warehouse.

Kichirou knelt down at Masashi-sama's side, checking his pulse, when he realized Masashi-sama was looking at something past Kichirou's head.

Kichirou froze as he finally noticed the palpable sense of menace in the air. His mind raced. Ryoko! Where was Ryoko? But Masashi-sama…! He couldn't leave him here either! He heard the slow, steely sound of a sword being drawn from a sheath and sweat broke out on his forehead.

"I saw what you have done, nekomata." The voice was deep, threatening, and oddly feminine. "Tell me why I should not kill you."

Kichirou tried to speak, but no words would come. He was so scared he couldn't even make himself turn around to look at the intruder. The decision was taken from him when the end of a sword moved into his field of vision and came to rest against the side of his neck. "I-I'm sorry, just don't kill Ryoko…"

The sword moved slightly, cutting a thin line in the skin of his neck, and he closed his eyes, hoping Ryoko wasn't watching.

"Hmm…you interest me," the woman said as she withdrew her sword and stepped around to kneel in front of him on the other side of Masashi-sama. She was a tall woman, wearing the clothing of the Shinmeiryu.

"I am Aoyama Motoko of the Shinmeiryu. You are hereby under arrest for kidnapping a daughter of the Abe clan, as well as a civilian, among other crimes. Come quietly and you will be tried and if found guilty, a punishment fitting your crimes will be decided upon. Pick him up, let's go," she said, gesturing to Masashi.

"You…you aren't going to kill me?"

Motoko looked at him aghast. "No! We wouldn't last very long if we went around executing every criminal we found. Criminals who try to escape, however... Take my advice: don't try anything. Even if you were to make it past me, those stationed outside would ensure your death or capture. Now, it's time to go."

Kichirou picked up Masashi-sama, who still couldn't speak, and saw another person from the Shinmeiryu carrying Ryoko, who was now snoring. "Where are we going?"

Motoko looked at him over her shoulder. "The Konoe estate."

* * *

**Omake**

* * *

Aiko reluctantly led her classmates onto the grounds of the Seimei Shrine and up to the living quarters, where she hesitated for a moment. "Nobody act stupid, okay?" she begged as she looked from face to face until the door opened suddenly behind her and a short old woman stepped out.

"Oh! There you are Aiko-chan! Ooo~h my, look how you've grown, are you a cute little Aiko-chan, yes you are~!" the old woman said as she pinched Aiko's cheek.

"Grandmaaaa~! Don't do that in front my friends!"

"Oh all right. Come inside, I made some sweets earlier!"

Aiko sheepishly followed her grandmother inside while the others all looked at each other, totally stunned.

* * *

_**Author's notes:** Well, one more chapter of the Kyoto arc, and then it's back to Mahora for everyone! Now, as for some information on the youkai in this chapter..._

_Bakeneko—A cat that has somehow gained supernatural powers/become sentient/something like that. They are often said to be able to shapeshift, eat anything (especially their owners, so they can take their place), and animate a dead body by jumping over it. When they live long enough that their tail splits into two, they are known as Nekomata. Or at least, that's what I've read here and there._

_Now it's time for some villain profiles…_

_

* * *

_

O Masashi - The Fox King (self proclaimed)

Born - ?

Height - 5'10"

Likes: Order, proper respect given

Dislikes: lazy people, disorder

Little Known Facts: Time spent not obsessing over how others have wronged him is often spent obsessing over how to fix his fabulous hair.

* * *

Yagi Kichirou - Loyal Nekomata

Born - ?

Height - 6'1"

Likes: Eating ramen, the simple things

Dislikes: Bees, dogs

Little Known Facts: He likes to sleep on the roof on sunny days

* * *

Yagi Ryoko - Idiot Bakeneko

Born - ?

Height - 5'

Likes: Her big brother, sweets, taiyaki with red bean paste

Dislikes: Natto, bitter food, coffee

Little Known Facts: Between her and her brother, she is physically stronger


	15. Ch 13 Kyoto pt 5

**Still Waters 3, Chapter 12, Kyoto Trip Part 5**

* * *

_A Girl With Kaleidoscope Eyes_

_

* * *

_

The first thing Kara Stride became aware of was a pounding headache; it seemed as if she felt each heartbeat through her whole head down to her teeth. She groaned and forced her eyes open.

"She's awake! Hey Daisuki-kun, go tell Tsuruko-sama!"

"Don't call me that!" a boy said. There was the sound of a sliding door opening and then closing, and the room became quiet except for the sound of two people breathing.

Kara tried to blink away the blurriness in her vision, and stared dumbly at the ceiling for a moment before she recalled that she had been wearing glasses rather than contacts. With her terrible vision, all she could tell about her surroundings was that the room she was in seemed to be made of some dark wood, for the most part. That, and that she was currently lying on a futon.

"Don't move. Tsuruko-sama hit you pretty hard," a girl said.

Kara turned her aching head to look at the speaker, but all she saw was a red and white blob with a little bit of black on the top; she sounded quite young. She pushed herself up a little and propped herself up on her elbows as she looked around, squinting.

"What's wrong? Are you okay?"

Kara looked at the multicolored blob again. "Where are my glasses?"

"Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't think about that," the girl said. "My friends all say I'm kind of stupid, sorry about that," she said apologetically as she helped Kara sit up straight. She put Kara's glasses on her face and waited while Kara straightened them.

"Can you see now?" the girl asked.

Kara nodded as she expertly surveyed the room. "Thank you," she said more out of politeness than any real sense of thankfulness. Her head was pounding. The room had one exit, solid walls adorned with elaborate carvings on wood panels…no easy way to escape, and without a doubt, there were guards outside. She finally turned her attention to the girl and was once again thrown completely off her train of thought.

"What? Is something wrong?" the girl asked.

"…you mean besides being held against my will?" Kara asked, deadpan. She had thought from her voice that the girl couldn't have been more than eleven or twelve, but now she could see she had been far off the mark. The girl was obviously in her late teens, but was equipped with a flat chest and a guileless face adorned with a smile that shone like the sun.

"What? You're not being held against your will!" the girl said, waving her hands frantically. "It's not like that at all!"

"Then what is it like?" Kara asked irritably. And someone had unbuttoned her shirt! Wait, scratch that…the buttons had popped off; it had probably happened during the short fight before her capture. She pulled the front of her shirt closed and glared at the girl, daring her to say something.

"Um…can I ask you a question?"

"What? What could you possibly want to know?" Kara snapped.

"Er…ah…how did you…was it…um…you're so pretty, and…um…did you drink a lot of milk, growing up?" the girl asked, stealing glances at Kara's shirt.

Kara blinked once, twice, looked with dawning horror down at her…ample…chest, snapped her mouth shut, and turned beet red as she quickly turned away. "Shut up." 'I knew I should have stopped somewhere and gotten a bigger shirt…! Or better yet, a baggy coat.'

"I'm sorry…it was just a question…"

"…"

"…"

"Yes."

"I knew it!" the girl squealed.

The door slid open and Kara quickly turned away from the door, hunching over slightly as she tried to hold the front of her shirt shut with both hands while several people entered the room.

"Well, now that _that's_ over, we can deal with _this_ situation," an older man said.

Kara hunched over further and her eyes darted around the room. There was nothing she could use to cover up, not even a blanket. That stupid girl had already rolled up the futon, too.

"It's not that bad, Eishun-san. I think this was, for the most part, a misunderstanding," a woman replied. Kara recognized that voice as coming from the long haired woman she had fought earlier.

"Uh…hey, girl, is something wrong with you? You're okay, right? Hey!" someone with a youthful, boyish voice said.

Kara huddled further over, cursing sloppy tailors the world over for putting her in this situation. several buttons had popped off earlier, and now the last one creaked ominously as the boy put his hand on her shoulder. He forcibly turned her around to face everyone and made her sit up straight.

*snap* *boing*

"…"

The room fell silent

*slap*

"You…you beast! I hate you Daisuki-kun!" the stupid girl wailed as she fled the room.

"Wait! Moe-san! Come back! And don't call me Daisuki-kun...!" the boy wailed in return as he followed, leaving the furiously blushing Kara alone in the room with the two adults. She clutched the front of her shirt together tightly.

"Y-you…might not want to do that," Eishun said, turning his head away as he adjusted his glasses until light reflected from them. His face was beet red. "The…side profile…ah…IthinkI'llbeinmyofficedoingpaperwork. I leave it to you, Tsuruko-san!" he said hurriedly as he fled the room.

"…side profile…" Kara repeated. Then it dawned on her what the man meant. Since she was gripping the front of her shirt so tightly, it was pulled tight against the sides, and…oh crap. Her blush intensified.

"Don't worry, it is only the two of us here, now," the woman said, grinning slightly as she shut the door.

Kara muttered something about how she wanted to die.

"Now now, it isn't as bad as all that. My name is Aoyama Tsuruko, may I have yours?"

"Kara Stride," Kara said, still beet red and staring at the floor as she tried to hold her shirt shut.

"Kara Stride…that is an unusual name," Tsuruko said thoughtfully as she watched the poor girl squirm. Should she tell her that her bag, containing her school uniform, was sitting just outside the door? 'No, this is too much fun,' she thought to herself.

Kara's head dropped a little more.

"So, what brings you here to Kyoto, Kara-san?"

"…"

"I couldn't hear you?"

"…class trip…"

"Now, that is interesting," Tsuruko said. She held up a piece of paper and began reading. "_'I am disappointed in the lack of information about the Shinmeiryu, but rest assured they are a powerful force, no matter what their size_.' So…judging by your expression, I suspect you understand what happens to those who plan to attack the Shinmeiryu…?" Tsuruko said in a faux-pleasant tone as she folded up the letter she had taken from Kara while the girl had been unconscious. "I do not know your intent in searching us out, but rest assured that the Shinmeiryu will overcome any crisis that may arise."

Kara shrunk down even further. "I'm sorry I was following the other one, but she was the only lead I had…"

"So you decided to stalk my sister, one of the few anywhere who can regularly provide a good fight to me, and you didn't even know who she was?"

Kara's eyes moistened. "I'm sorry." 'No! I can't cry here! I _can't_!'

Tsuruko just stared at her for a moment. This was fun, but she hadn't wanted to reduce the girl to tears. Time to change the subject. "Kara-san-" Too late. She sighed and moved over to sit beside the sniffling girl and put an arm around her shoulders as big globby tears welled up.

Kara struggled to hold back, but it was a lost battle. "I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry! My mom wants me to find you guys and make you join us but I don't know what to do, I'm just fifteen and I don't know what to do! I didn't even wanna come here! Bwaahhhh!"

Tsuruko sweatdropped as the frustrated girl burst wildly into tears and buried her face in Tsuruko's side. She didn't know how to handle something like this…! Not even Motoko, in her most frustrated moments, had ever done something so ridiculous. She had to improvise.

"There, there…it's…not that bad?" she said as she patted the girl's head. For some reason, this only made her cry harder.

"Mama's gonna hate me, I just know it! I lied to her so much about everything, and-and-and now this! BWAAHHH" Kara said, lapsing into English.

"Er…it will…be okay?" Tsuruko said, looking around desperately for help. The only door in the room slammed shut an instant before she looked up. So, no help there. Honestly, why was _she_ the one in this sort of situation? The ojou would have been a much better choice.

"BWAAAAHHH"

Tsuruko sighed again and decided she had had enough. She whacked the girl in the head. "You, be still. Stop crying. Is that any way for a warrior to behave?" she said sternly.

Kara's bawling turned to sniffles, but she kept her face buried.

"Now stand up. You are trying to gain our, the Shinmeiryu's, friendship, correct? _Correct_?"

"Y-yes," Kara said from somewhere in the region of Tsuruko's diaphragm.

"Then show some backbone. Give us a reason to agree. Impress me."

Kara slowly untangled herself from Tsuruko's torso and backed up a little, but kept her head down as she took off her glasses to wipe her eyes and sniffled pitifully a few times while trying to hold the front of her shirt together with her other hand. "I'm sorry about..."

Tsuruko straightened her back awkwardly and brushed some hair out of her face. "Well? I am waiting to be impressed."

Kara wiped her face with her sleeve while trying to keep the front of her shirt closed with the other. "Do you have some clothes I could borrow? I mean…without enough support-…er…it hurts to do stuff like that, you know?" She hadn't expected anything like this to happen, so she hadn't prepared properly with the correct undergarments...

Tsuruko nodded in understanding. "Moe-san, please bring some suitable clothing for Kara-san," she said toward the door.

'Moe-san', who had been listening behind the door, squeaked and rushed to obey.

"Daisuke-san, please wait where you are. When Kara-san has changed, please show her to the armory."

"…Yes, sensei."

"So," Tsuruko said, turning back to the American girl and saw that she had taken off her glasses again to wipe them off. She froze with her mouth half open. _Maybe a dozen kids to start with._ Kara-san was seated in front of her, looking at her with big, teary eyes, her too-small button-up shirt burst open by her chest, looking all submissive and in need of protection. _Maybe a dozen, see where we go from there._ Tsuruko tried to shake it off. The girl had magic eyes; the glasses must be some sort of device to block their power...she should have realized earlier and prepared a way to ward against such a thing. Well, it was too late now. "I suppose you have some skill with the sword, correct?" Tsuruko asked, outwardly calm as she struggled to get her suddenly raging hormones back under control.

Kara nodded and then shivered as another sob ran through her body. It did interesting things to her anatomy.

Tsuruko abruptly stood up and opened the door. "Moe-san! Here! _Now_!" she bellowed out into the hall.

"Sensei…?" Daisuke asked worriedly as Moe came at a run, carrying the traditional clothing of a student of the Shinmeiryu.

"I'm afraid that won't be enough tape for that one," Tsuruko said, eyeing the pile of clothes. Moe nodded and ran off again.

"Sensei, is something wrong?" Daisuke asked, trying to look into the room. He shrank back when Tsuruko turned her glare on him and shut the door behind her.

"Why no, does it seem as though anything is wrong?" she asked politely, glaring him to death. "By the way, have you seen my husband anywhere around? I feel I must…discuss…things…with him. Immediately. Several times, if necessary. Have my sister spar with this girl when she is ready. Tell Motoko-han it is a test, she will know what to do," Tsuruko said, looking decidedly nervous and twisty, as if she was in need of a massage. Or something.

"Er…yes?" Daisuke said, but Tsuruko was already walking stiffly down the hall at quite a fast pace.

* * *

Negi and Konoka chatted happily as they exited the restaurant where they had had a late lunch and set off down the tree lined street. Miyoshi Youko politely dropped back so as not to intrude, and Setsuna walked beside her with Kamo on her shoulder.

"Youko-san, you said you worked with Aoyama Saburo in the old days…tell me, what was he like?" From the tales Motoko had told her when she was a child, the man had attained a sort of hero status with her.

Youko glanced up at the sky as she walked, the ghost of a smile crossing her lips. "He was an idiot," she announced.

Setsuna deflated.

"He was careless, fond of what I suppose would be called 'ladies of the night', and dense to a fault," Youko said, then grinned to take the sting from her words. "He was one of the best men I ever met. Honest, brave, a champion of those who couldn't defend themselves."

Setsuna looked at Negi's back as he laughed at something Konoka said. "What happened to him?" Kamo perked up and listened.

Youko's grin immediately turned to a frown. "He got himself killed defending some people in the slums while the oni rioted. The man had killed or defeated countless samurai, youkai, and oni in the past, but all it took in the end was one young oni sticking a knife in him when his back was turned to take him down."

"What happened to the oni?" Setsuna asked; she had always wondered about them... Her relationship with the oni in Kyoto was a curious thing. They knew what she was as well as she knew what they were. Even if both were disguised perfectly as humans, each type knew the other on sight in spite of it, and sometimes before they had even seen each other. She didn't know how to act around them, and they seemed to feel the same way…so they didn't interact much beyond sending or receiving messages. It was…awkward.

"Someone ripped him limb from limb," Youko said after a moment.

Looking at Youko's face, Setsuna had no doubts about who had done _that_; and judging from the way the girl spoke about Saburo-san, it seemed likely now that there might be a little fox youkai blood in the Aoyama family line, too; Saburo had had a son by an unknown woman, after all, who had taken over to continue the line after Saburo died.

"I see," Setsuna replied. They walked in silence for a time, the chatter from Negi and Konoka occasionally drifting back. "What will you do when you return to Mahora?"

Youko brightened up immediately. "Go back to class. I've missed out on a lot, and some of this stuff seems very interesting. Like cars! How did they do that? There aren't any horses or cows pulling it or anything. Airplanes too. I want to ride in an airplane."

Setsuna couldn't help but grin.

* * *

Konoka and Setsuna accompanied Negi and Youko all the way back to the hotel.

"Negi-kun, when are you leaving tomorrow?" Konoka asked as they stood outside, half of Negi's class pasted to the windows inside the building to see the beautiful woman their teacher was speaking to.

Negi, acutely aware of his class's interest, answered quickly. "We will leave at eight o'clock and ride the Shinkansen back."

"Oh," Konoka said, pouting a bit.

A murmur rose among the students, and a cry of "Negi-sensei, you dog!" could be heard, muffled by the glass between the two groups.

"So you won't stay here any longer?" Konoka asked, turning the puppy dog eyes up to eleven.

Negi shook his head, praying she would hurry and go before his class got the wrong idea.

It was, of course, _far_ too late to worry about that, however; something he should have already known, what with six years of experience teaching excitable, hormonal teenage girls. What happened next would provide the rumor mill with plenty of fodder for a long time to come.

Konoka hugged Negi. Not just a hug, but a _hug_. The sort of hug, according to those who saw it, which long lost lovers gave when they were reunited. The kind of hug you wrote home about. She followed that up with a kiss on the cheek. When Konoka finally extricated herself, she pulled Setsuna over and made her hug the blushing teacher too.

"Oh, how cute, Secchan! You match!" Konoka said, holding up a mirror so the two could see the identical shade of red they had achieved. she turned to wave at the students in the windows, grabbed Setsuna's wrist, and hugged her too, drawing a renewed wave of murmuring. "Bye bye, Negi-kun! I have to go back now, good luck!"

"B-bye, Konoka-san, Setsuna-san," Negi said meekly, again hugely aware of the weight of his class's attention as he cursed his fate.

"Good luck? You're gonna need it," Youko said, moving far away from Negi.

Negi gulped and prepared himself, then entered the gates of hell, a.k.a. the hotel lobby, with Miyoshi Youko in tow.

"I…I didn't know Negi-sensei was like that," Caro Shaw said as her eyes grew big and watery.

Mori Kumiko, normally a friendly if quiet girl in the astronomy club, took Caro by the shoulders and turned her away from the teacher, making sure to send a not so friendly glare at him.

Mochizuki Kagami simply 'hmphed' and turned away while her roommate Endo Haru stared at him, openmouthed.

Kondo Kai squeaked and turned beet red in an instant when their eyes met, then stumbled over a chair in her rush to get away.

And Possum Cade, the girl he would have expected most out of those in the lobby to have some smart-aleck comment, nearly tripped over herself getting away.

With a deep and weary sigh, Negi trudged through the now silent crowd and into the elevator.

* * *

As the evening wore on, the rest of the students filed into the hotel, were briefed, and voiced their opinions on the matter, which ranged from "How could he?" from Hayashi Fujiko to "Wow, two of 'em; I'm impressed!" from Rosemary Dean, to everything in between. And of course Nitta-sensei had to give Negi an earful about proper behavior and the responsibilities of being a teacher and so on and so forth.

To say it was all very tiring would be a terrible understatement.

* * *

When morning finally rolled around and everyone got off the bus at the station where they would board the train back to Mahora, they were greeted by two familiar faces.

"I am sorry Negi-sensei, but it seems that we will be accompanying you and your class on the train," Setsuna said as she bowed politely.

"Er…is that okay?" Negi asked, sweating profusely as he felt his class set their collective glare on his back again.

Konoka nodded and smiled. "Mm-hmm! I had some paperwork to do, but I pushed it off on daddy, so it will be fine! This should be fun~"

Negi somehow managed to hold back his weary sigh as he turned to face the class and get them organized and on the train.

However…

The students shifted around and refused to meet Negi's eyes when he looked at them. "Eh…everyone please board the train in an orderly fashion!" he called out.

No response.

Kamo snickered.

"Come on girls! Move it now or you're all walking to Mahora," the P.E. teacher Max bellowed from the back of the crowd, ever the best choice to motivate a lazy or slow group of people.

The pouting and heartbroken students finally got moving and shuffled past their teacher with their heads down, refusing to meet his eyes; all except for Rosemary Dean, who gave him a big grin and a thumbs up. Several of the others stepped on his feet, and he was quite sure one of them kicked him in the shin on purpose, too.

When the last of the students had boarded, Max clapped a hand on Negi's shoulder.

"Don't worry about it, Negi. Just let 'em know you're not dating Konoka and things will get back to normal in a few days, maybe a week at most." Then Max, too, climbed aboard the train and Negi was left alone with Kamo on the platform.

"Aniki, he's right you know. Remember that time a few years ago?"

Negi shuddered. _That_ particular class had been a nightmare, but everything _had_ worked out in the end... "I hope so," Negi said aloud.

* * *

The ride back was uneventful. It was so uneventful, in fact, that no one said a word, and no one gave long, pointed looks at the back of Negi's head through the duration of the trip. Negi knew this because every time he turned to see who was staring at him, the students were all looking innocently out the windows. They also definitely did not throw spitballs, poke him with the ends of paperclips, drop drinks down the back of his shirt, or even attempt to give him a wedgie on his way to the bathroom.

_Definitely_ not.

* * *

After everyone finally disembarked from the bus back at Mahora, the teachers did a final head count and released the students, who wandered away in small groups.

"Please be safe, everyone!" Negi called out after them.

Konoka and Setsuna walked up to stand beside him.

"Wow, it hasn't changed much, has it Secchan?"

Setsuna shook her head. "No, not really." She shifted the sheath containing her sword Yuunagi from one shoulder to the other. "Let's go."

Konoka nodded and grabbed Negi's arm, squishing against him. "Come on, Negi-kun! Show me where you live?"

"Eh? I…ah…what?"

She looked up at him, made her best 'sparkly' face, and repeated her question. "Show me where you live, Negi-kun?"

Max walked past and a string of deep, muffled laughter accompanied him.

Negi did his best to frown at the woman, but it was no use. He slumped and let out a weary groan. "It's this way," he said in defeat as he led Setsuna and Konoka away from the station.

* * *

As they neared the teacher's dorm, Negi spotted someone seated on the steps.

"Oh, is that Maple-san?" Konoka asked pleasantly. Setsuna and Negi shot each other a wary look.

"I hope nothing happened…" Negi said, frowning as he looked at the girl sitting on the steps.

She certainly looked ragged enough, and when she realized they were approaching, she staggered up to her feet.

"Hello Negi," she said, then looked at Konoka and Setsuna. "Hello."

"Hello Maple-san," Konoka said, smiling cutely as she clung to Negi and Setsuna.

"Hello," Setsuna said, bobbing her head.

"Hello Maple-san," Negi said carefully. "Is something wrong?" The poor girl certainly seemed to be troubled by something, and looked as if she hadn't been getting enough sleep. Of course, being cursed with horrific nightmares sent by beasts beyond human ken tended to do that to a person, not to mention the mess her sister was in.

Maple hesitated for a moment before shoving her hand into her pocket and drawing out a small keychain. "Here," she said, holding it out to Negi.

Negi accepted the keychain, dreading what he must ask.

"…did you do something bad again, Maple-san?"

The ragged girl shook her head, looking relieved. "No, I just…had a bad 'spell' again. I'm sorry Negi, but I think you should hold on to that for a few days. I…don't want to be a burden, but…I'm sorry, Negi."

"Don't worry Maple-san, you're not a burden," Negi lied as he pocketed the keychain. "Just let me know when you feel like you can trust yourself with the garden tools again, okay? You should come outside more often. It's not healthy for you or your sister to stay in that little house all the time," he lectured.

Maple nodded awkwardly. "Thank you, Negi." Then she turned and all but fled the scene.

"Poor girl…" Konoka said after a moment as the trio watched her go.

"I don't trust her," Setsuna said after a moment, but backpedaled quickly when she saw Konoka's pouting face. "It's not that I'm being mean! It's just…I mean…"

Negi nodded sadly. He knew exactly what Setsuna meant. Maple always seemed to be on the verge of a violent psychotic breakdown. And, judging by her past actions when confronted with creatures attacking Mahora, the line she stood on was very thin indeed. He hated to think that way about a former student, but…

He led Konoka and Setsuna inside as he tried to forget about the key to Maple's toolshed in his pocket.

* * *

Negi put his own key in the door lock of his rooms and turned it, but there was no resistance. "It's unlocked?" he asked rhetorically as he pushed the door open on his room. He paused as the scene of utter devastation that was formerly his apartment in the teacher's dorm greeted his eyes.

Trash was everywhere; empty wine bottles, containers that had formerly held various flavors of soft drinks, dirty dishes, cups and silverware littered the room, underneath even larger piles of paper plates, paper cups, and plastic silverware, which must have been purchased when all the regular dishes became dirty. There were clothes everywhere as well, and for some reason Asuna was curled up in the corner high atop a stack of three huge bags of rice straight from the farm, apparently; one of them had developed a substantial leak as evidenced by the pile of rice that had been stepped on more than once and spread around. Asuna stirred and looked up sleepily.

"Yo Negi~" she said, her voice wavering. "Keep it down, I think I've got a hangover, and your bed's really…uncomfortable…um…"

Negi started shaking and Konoka and Setsuna backed away.

"Heh heh heh…"

"Ah…Negi-kun?" Konoka said.

"Hehehehehe…"

"Negi-sensei?" Setsuna asked.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Konoka and Setsuna looked at each other for a moment, more than a little worried for their friend's sanity.

"HA HA HA-" Negi abruptly fell silent. He took one step inside, looked around, and…"_**AAAH-SUUU-NAAAAAAH!**_"

* * *

Negi glared down at the seven women who knelt before him on the (ruined) carpet. He slowly walked back and forth before them with his hands clasped behind his back like a drill sergeant, snapping his angry gaze at anyone who dared to so much as shift their weight.

Asuna, having been the one in charge of his place while he was gone, knew it was her place to speak first...it just took a few minutes to work up the nerve. "Ah, look Negi, I'm sorry-"

"Will that bring back my stereo system?"

"Er…no, but what-"

"Be quiet." Asuna got quiet. "Now, I was gone for five days. During those five days, I trusted you with watching my room."

Haruna, who had apparently returned from her new place in Akihabara when he was on the class trip, nudged Yuuna beside her. "Oh she watched it all right, watched it become a slaughter house."

Yuuna, another new arrival, started giggling behind her hand and couldn't stop.

Negi glared at her, but she couldn't stop herself. Makie joined in almost immediately after, and then the others did as well, soon joined by Konoka from her place standing unobtrusively behind the teacher. Even Setsuna smiled a bit. In the end, even Negi grinned for a moment, then spoke one terrifying word.

"Training."

The room fell deathly silent.

"And Asuna, please tell me why you were sleeping on a pile of women's underwear?" Negi asked as he eyed the pile she had been using as a pillow on top of the bags of rice.

"Er…well…I don't remember?"

"I am sorry, Negi-sensei," Ayaka said. "I…I think it was a dare."

"Yeah, yeah! Remember Iincho?" Fuuka, who had apparently finally gone through puberty, asked. "It was a penalty game after she broke the vase." Fumika nodded.

"You broke my vase?" Negi asked, turning to Asuna.

"It was surprisingly comfortable!" Asuna said, trying to change the subject. "Well, except for all the buckles and things…"

Negi just looked at her silently.

"What?" Asuna demanded.

"Ohhh, this is so daring," Konoka said suddenly, lifting up a piece of…something, which seemed to be composed of little more than strings and buckles.

"Hey, Konoka, be careful with that…!" Yuuna shouted, causing all eyes to swivel to her. "What are you all looking at me like that for?" Everyone continued to stare. "It's just a present for dad!" Everyone looked a little sad, now. "NOT FOR ME TO WEAR YOU PERVERTS! It's for Donnet-san!"

Makie heaved a heartfelt sigh of relief, accompanied by Asuna. "I was really worried there for a moment," she whispered to the red head, who nodded. "But can you imagine…" They thought for a moment. Yuuna, who had always been, well, stacked, and now, aged a few years, most definitely looked like a woman rather than a girl, plus the stringy…'thing', equals…?

Both girls turned red, then green when they recalled Yuuna's dad.

"That's great!" Haruna said, fire in her eyes and a trickle of blood coming from one nostril as she whipped out a sketchbook and started drawing.

It was at that moment the door opened again, revealing none other than Kazumi, who just so happened to be carrying a large bag stuffed with alcoholic beverages. "Ah…I think I should go," she said upon spotting Negi and seeing the terrifyingly bland expression on his face when he turned to look at her. "It looks like a bad time. Shame on you Asuna! How could you do this to Negi-kun's apartment?" she asked as she put down the incriminating bag and pushed it away with her foot, preparing to bolt down the hallway.

"Wha…! This is your fault too, Asakura!"

"Yeah!"

"Come get your just desserts!"

"Why don't you join us, Kazumi-san?" Negi asked pleasantly, his eyes like those of a dead fish.

"Er…okay?"

* * *

In the end, the eight women scrubbed the apartment clean while Negi sat on the couch and watched. Konoka wanted to help as well, but he sent her out with Setsuna to get some more food and something to drink. Ayaka even paid for the replacement of the ruined rug and stereo system out of her own pocket, and Asuna glued the ancient vase back together as well as she could manage.

"Well, that's done," she said as she wiped the sweat from her forehead and turned around. "Hey Negi…" She let her words trail off; he was asleep on the couch. She edged closer, getting the attention of some of the others.

Konoka and Setsuna returned with food and drinks and noticed the sleeping teacher right away.

"Is he asleep?" Makie asked as she peered over the back of the couch at Negi.

"Yeah," Yuuna said as she plopped down in a chair across from him. She propped her elbows on her knees and leaned forward to rest her chin in her hands. "He's still just as cute as he ever was," she said tiredly, smiling. Makie nodded.

Fuuka and Fumika sat down together on the other couch while Ayaka walked over to Negi and knelt down in front of him. "He looks so tired…" she said after a moment.

"He's worried," Asuna said, drawing everyone's attention. "Remember what happened six years ago?"

The other women nodded. That whole mess with the dreams and kidnappings. And the dragon. How could they forget the dragon? Well, other things had happened after that as well, but they all knew what Asuna meant. Fate's ultimatum.

_Meet me in the ruins of Old Ostia in six years' time…_

Time was almost up, and it had weighed heavily on the minds of all of Negi's friends and allies; for some reason they just couldn't leave him alone... The girls all looked at each other.

"I won't let him go through that alone," Yuuna said suddenly.

"I don't think any of us could," Ayaka said quietly as she stood up. Asuna came up and stood beside her.

"Let's make a promise," Asuna said as the others stood as well. "Let's promise to watch over him and accompany him to the magic world. We will take care of him, and should something happen to any of us," she said, looking each person in the eye, "then the rest of us will keep him from doing anything stupid."

They nodded one by one.

"You understand what this means, right?" Haruna asked suddenly. "You're all still in love with him, aren't you?"

Everyone fell silent and looked at each other.

"More of a crush, really…" Fuuka said, her face turning red. This brought up several blushes and a little amused snickering.

"That may be true, but…it doesn't matter," Ayaka said a moment later. "If he should choose one of you…" her voice wavered as she went on. "If he should choose one of you, I…I will allow him to have his happiness," she said.

"Well said, Iincho," Kazumi spoke up. "Now I take it you're all going to the magic world whether he likes it or not, right?" Everyone nodded. "Well, I've taken the liberty of calling the others for their opinions on the matter."

"That's the Mahora Paparazzi for you," Makie said, wiping her eyes.

"What did they say, Asakura?" Asuna asked.

"That's baka red for you," Kazumi instantly replied, earning a bit of laughter. "What do you think they said? They all want to help. In fact, Misora-chan's over there right now on some secret mission for the church, getting the 'lay of the land', I guess. It looks like things are getting dangerous over there," she said, suddenly dropping her jocular tone. "Some of us may really die over there."

"I know I'm the weakest one here," Makie said. "But I don't care. I still want to help. Will you guys help me get stronger before we go?"

"Of course, Maki-chan," Asuna said suddenly. "We can use Eva's resort," she said, scanning the others for indecision. There was none. Ayaka could teach her martial arts, Yuuna and Kazumi and Konoka could give her a refresher course on magic, Fuuka and Fumika could teach her about ninja tricks...

"Yes, we must all become stronger. Don't worry about being the weakest, Makie-san," Ayaka said. "It will only mean you're the weakest among the strongest group that was ever formed."

"Pfft, bwahahaha! What was that all about, Iincho?" Yuuna asked, grinning wide.

"What? What was so funny?" Ayaka demanded, putting her hands on her hips as she looked at the other girl.

"Come on, Iincho, even _you_ have to admit that that was a little cheesy," Asuna said.

"Ugh…"

"That's so noble of you all," Kamo said as he sauntered into the room. "So, who doesn't have a pactio yet?"

"I've still got mine from Max-sensei back in high school," Yuuna said, holding up her card.

"Me too," Makie said.

Asuna, Haruna, Kazumi, and Ayaka pulled out their cards as well.

Everyone looked back and forth at each other as they held up their cards, all except Fuuka and Fumika, the latter of whom looked around sheepishly.

"Well let's get on with it then," Kamo said as the two of them turned red.

"Ah…" Fumika said nervously.

"Don't worry about it," Fuuka said to her sister as she stepped up to the sleeping teacher, red faced in spite of her verbal show of not caring. "Is the circle ready, Kamo-kun?" she asked.

"Just a second…" Kamo said. "There. Any time you're ready."

Fuuka leaned over and kissed Negi.

* * *

_Mother,_

_I have done it. The Shinmeiryu have officially acknowledged our status, and have agreed to ally with us. The woman I spoke to, Aoyama Tsuruko, says she has some sway with their leader, and her sister Motoko says the same, though I feel there is something they are not telling me. Anyway, you were right. They are very powerful and have people all around the world. One of their people in the US will be visiting the dojo soon. _

_I think it best that I tell you that in spite of your warnings, I had a match. Me versus Aoyama Motoko with live steel. She was amazing! Her movements flowed beautifully, but weren't wasteful in any way. It was like some sort of dance! It was all I could do to keep up with her, but she just smiled at me and went even faster. I don't know how long it lasted, but I was exhausted by the time we stopped, and she was breathing heavily as well. Unfortunately, I lost the match. Even though I lost, she said she was impressed, and asked how many others there were like me, and seemed interested in meeting little sis and cousin Mel, especially after I said they were better than me. I think that was a good sign._

_In any case, it's getting late and I need some sleep, so good night. I'm looking forward to your next letter! Also, please watch for a box of souvenirs in the mail. I enclosed some pictures of me around Kyoto like you requested. _

_Your Daughter,_

_Kara_

_

* * *

_

_**Author's notes**: And finally, some sign of a plot...sorry it took so long._

_Shinkansen—again, the train they rode on the way to Kyoto._

_Below are the profiles for the two previously unknown members of the Shinmeiryu introduced in this chapter, as well as another student, Yoshida Ume. As a side note, yes, I am well aware that 'Daisuki' is not a good name for a boy, or anyone at all really. The guy's name is Daisuke, 'Moe-chan' just calls him Daisuki because she's an idiot._

* * *

Takino Momoe, a.k.a. 'Moe' - Charming Idiot, Squad 2 of the Shinmeiryu Peacekeeping Force

Born - 6/13/1990

Height - 5'4"

Likes: Daisuki-kun, cute things like octopuses

Dislikes: Creepy things like birds

Little Known Facts: Despite rumors to the contrary, her idiocy is not an act.

* * *

Takeda Daisuke - Determined Idiot, Squad 2 of the Shinmeiryu Peacekeeping Force

Born - 1/31/1991

Height - 5'9"

Likes: Moe-chan, justice

Dislikes: Criminals and cowards, being called Daisuki

Little Known Facts: As a kid, he used to dress up as a superhero and pretend to save Moe-chan from bandits.

* * *

Yoshida Ume - Student number 14

Born - 5/17/1994

Height - 5'

Cooking Club

Likes: Peace and quiet, the smell of cinnamon, late night anime

Dislikes: Horror Movies, Romance Movies

Roommate: Ono Ran

Little Known Facts: She is not bothered at all by the sight of blood, but something jumping out will make her scream.


	16. Ch 14 Reunion

**Still Waters 3, Chapter 13, Reunion**

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* * *

**

_Witchy Woman_

_

* * *

_

As the days went by, more of Negi's former students came back to town; some came from as far away as Europe or America, and, in one case, Africa. Others who had become friends or allies over the years between then and now came as well. Those who were still students, such as the mute girl Nelle, her friend Liliana Rosario, and others offered their assistance. Even other students who had long ago graduated, such as Takane D. Goodman, Sakura Mei, and the glasses girl everyone called Nutmeg, among others, came back. The atmosphere around Mahora quickly became electric as some of the world's most brilliant and powerful mages and fighters began congregating in one place.

It was in this crowded, exciting time that Kobayash Ayumi's band prepared for the fast approaching Battle of the Bands.

* * *

_Monday, May 11th, 2009, after school_

* * *

"No! Remember your cue, Miyako-chan!" Ayumi said. Miyako flinched at the harshness in her tone.

"You were late yourself, Ayumi," Kara said.

"Yeah, well you're hitting that bassline too fast!" Ayumi shot back.

Kondo Kai slumped down behind her drum set as the guitarist and bassist argued. The sad thing was, they were both right. Kara was blazing through the bassline, Miyako-chan was obviously exhausted and missing her cues badly, and Ayumi's playing was getting sluggish and she kept missing notes even though she was more on edge than any of them. 'Well, at least _I'm_ not messing it up,' Kai thought. 'Benefits of being an oni.' Superhuman endurance and stamina was a major plus, she decided. She rolled her eyes when Ayumi's ranting moved on to anything and everything that caught her eye while Kara just watched her in that bored, no nonsense way she had that drove Ayumi crazy. Kai was sure Kara did it all the time to annoy Ayumi.

'That's enough of that,' Kai thought with finality. "Hey guys, let's stop for now."

"But can we really afford to stop now? We sound horrible!" Ayumi declared.

"Of course we sound horrible. We're all exhausted from playing all weekend. We won't win any competitions like this, we'll be lucky just to place in the top ten, much less the top three," Kara said.

Ayumi grimaced in a way that just screamed 'I know you're right but I really don't want to admit it'. "Okay, fine. We'll stop for now," she said as she slipped her guitar strap off over her head.

Watanabe Miyako slumped into a chair, relieved and exhausted. Who could have known singing would be so tiring…?

"How's your voice?" Kara said, passing her a water bottle.

"My throat sort of hurts," Miyako said.

"Are you going to be okay?"

"I'll just have to be careful until the contest next week; I'll be fine," Miyako said, punctuating her words with a brilliant smile. Kara smiled back and returned to her chair.

Kai stood up and slipped her drumsticks into her belt, then went over to the small fridge in the back of the club room to get a drink.

"Heya Kai-chan, get me one too!" Ayumi called out.

When everyone was seated comfortably, Kai brought up the subject all four of them had been dreading. "So…what are we going to play at the contest? We have a lot of songs, but…that just makes the decision harder."

Ayumi leaned back, looking up at the ceiling as her chair creaked ominously. It was an old thing, appropriated from the trash one day when they were replacing the chairs in the school offices. She had no idea just how much her bandmates wanted to see the chair break while she was sitting in it. "Well…since Miya-chan is so good with English vocals, I was thinking we could do something American, or English."

"Do we know who the judges will be yet?" Kara asked after a moment. Knowing the judges ahead of time often resulted in bands playing music in tune with the judges' preferences for a higher score. Technically the judges were supposed to be neutral, but…

"No," Ayumi said helplessly. She hated not knowing these things.

"We should probably break up for today. You know, give it some thought," Kai said after a moment. The others nodded.

"Okay, strategy meeting after school tomorrow," Ayumi said as everyone gathered their things.

Kai nodded, relieved that she had somehow managed to convince Ayumi to give it up for the day as she exited the room and strolled down the hallway, coke can in hand. She stopped when she reached the ground floor and dug out her mp3 player. Soon, she was walking along the paths that crisscrossed the campus, not really caring where she ended up; it wasn't as if she had anywhere in particular to be today, anyway. On the path near the edge of the forest, she passed a strikingly beautiful woman with long purple hair and nodded vaguely at her when the woman smiled. She had her music playing loud and couldn't really care less about much else at the moment.

* * *

Misa grinned as she pulled out her cellphone and dialed a number.

'Hello.' The speaker sounded sleepy. Not that Misa cared.

"Guess what I just saw, Madoka!" Misa squealed into the phone.

'What…? What time is it? Ugh, let me sleep.'

"I just passed a girl listening to _our music_!"

There was a long silence on the other end, broken after a moment by a startled '…really?'

"Yeah, really! Isn't that so…so…" Misa trailed off, searching for the right word.

'Awesome?'

"Yeah!"

'Yeah…I'm going back to sleep, Misa. Goodnight.'

Misa frowned at the phone as Madoka hung up. Ever since Madoka got that job during the graveyard shift she had become such a…a _mom_. She put up her cell phone and continued down the path, looking for the hidden entrance to the path to Eva's place. Most of the others were supposed to be there for training today, and she wanted to see how everyone had been doing since graduation.

* * *

"I'm home~" she called out when she entered the cabin. As usual, there was no reply. She wandered around the cabin, making sure everything was okay. "They're all downstairs~lalala~" she sang out loud as she headed for the stairs down to the basement.

"Hey, Misa-san, did you always talk to yourself?"

Misa froze and sweatdropped, then turned to face the intruder. "Ah…Kotarou?" she said, a look of disbelief on her face. She hadn't seen him in a long time, but…_wow_! Apparently he had spent a lot of time training in a place similar to Eva's resort…he looked around twenty, rather than the fifteen or sixteen he should have.

"Wha…uh…how are you?" she asked intelligently. Kotarou had grown up splendidly, and she felt a small twinge of regret that she had never thought to put her reverse Hikaru Genji plan into effect on him. Only a small twinge, though. Kotarou was cute, but he wasn't really her type.

"I'm fine," he said, answering a question she had forgotten she had even asked. "I think they're all below…let's go downstairs."

"Okay." Misa led the way, but realized Kotarou had stopped following her about halfway down. She turned and looked back up at him. "Something wrong?"

"Well…Chizuru-nee's in there, and Natsumi-san too," Kotarou finally said. "I haven't seen either one of 'em in years, and I left without telling them. Do you think they're mad…?" he asked.

Misa just stood there for a moment, blinking. "Well, probably a bit," she said. Well _of course_ they were mad, he had just run off the day of their graduation without even saying goodbye! She wouldn't put it past that Chizuru to drag Kotarou away somewhere and do unspeakable things with an onion in retaliation. Chizuru was one of the kindest, gentlest people she knew, but Chizuru was also one of the scariest, ranking up there near Eva at times. "I'm sure it'll be just fine," she lied as she pulled him the rest of the way down the stairs. "Come on."

Soon enough, the familiar heat of the resort bore down on them as they stood at the entrance ramp. Misa spotted one of Chachamaru's sisters off to the side and called out.

"Greetings," the robot said when it had joined them.

"Where is everyone?" Misa asked.

"Yukihiro Ayaka, Kagurazaka Asuna, Ku Fei, and Saotome Haruna are in the desert environment. Naba Chizuru, Murakami Natsumi, and Asakura Kazumi are in the glacial environment. Sasaki Makie-"

"That's enough. Thanks," Misa said. The robot bowed and went back to its work. "Come on, I want to see Chizuru-san again," Misa said, but Kotarou was already halfway to the teleport pad.

* * *

The freezing wind and snow was quite a shock after the heat of the entranceway, so Misa quickly wrapped herself in a shield of magic energy designed to keep out unpleasant temperatures. It wasn't perfect and she still shivered, but at least it kept the snow off of her and it was certainly better than freezing to death. She noticed Kotarou looked just fine, despite wearing little more than a t-shirt, jeans, and a light jacket. 'Stupid ki…," Misa thought. It wasn't fair that ki users had more control over temperature levels than straight magic users…!

"Come on, I think they're this way," Kotarou said as the sound of a distant blast reached their ears.

"Hey now, what gave it away?" Misa said sarcastically as they trudged through the waist deep snow. She was shivering violently now. 'I think I'll freeze to death before we reach them,' she thought irritably as she tried to huddle and walk at the same time. Settled for an odd sort of hunched-over walk her arms wrapped over her chest. It helped, but only a little.

She didn't realize Kotarou had noticed how cold she was until he swept her up and started carrying her. "Wha-! Hey! Put me down!" she demanded as she flailed around.

"Oh be quiet. You're freezing, and I'm tired of watching you shiver," Kotarou explained as he carried her.

Misa gave in grudgingly and settled down after a moment. She felt very…awkward? Yes, that was a good word. Being carried bridal style was hard work, apparently; she had to constantly stay tense to keep from falling or getting rolled into him. Weird, that…they never mentioned things like that in romance novels. He _was_ warm, though. Much warmer than she could make herself with her magic. Stupid shadow magic… She sighed. So irritating...!

"How much further do you think they are?" she asked a moment later.

"Just over this last hill, I think," Kotarou said as he set her back on the ground.

Misa reluctantly left the warmth of the dog-boy's ki field and set about shivering to death in her own pale imitation. She couldn't help but grin, however, as she watched Kotarou try to slick his hair back in the blowing wind. "You look fine," she said as she grabbed his wrist and began dragging him up toward the crest of the hill.

Kotarou resisted for a moment, but the thought of seeing Natsumi-san and Chizu-nee again, probable anger aside, won out in the end and he let her lead him.

Misa crested the hill and spotted the others gathered down below, working some sort of magic spell between the three of them. "Heeeeey, Chizuru-san! Natsumi-saaaaaan! Kazumi-saaaaaaaan!" she shouted, waving her arms.

The three women looked up at Misa and Kotarou on the snowy hilltop and started up the slope.

Soon enough, the whole group was back in the warm entrance area.

"So, how've you been, Chizu-nee?" Kotarou asked sheepishly as he looked away, rubbing the back of his head with one hand. His eyes paused on Natsumi, then skittered away.

Misa watched, amused, while he tried desperately to avoid looking at Natsumi, who returned the favor. It really _was_ funny; Kotarou was even taller than Negi now, at least six feet, and he was getting dressed down by a woman six inches shorter. As for his so-called 'older sister', Natsumi was shifting and moving and looking pretty much everywhere but at Kotarou.

"So you're seeing it too, huh?" Kazumi asked suddenly as she slung an arm over Misa's shoulder.

"Ha! I knew I wasn't the only one. So how are they?" she asked, referring to how the other two girls had advanced as mages. What with the way things had been for the past few years, she hadn't been able to do any training with them in quite a while.

Kazumi grinned as Chizuru seized Natsumi and pushed her toward Kotarou. The poor girl was barely five feet tall; Kotarou towered over her.

"Well, Chizuru's just bursting with power," Kazumi said as she called up her artifact and set up some videos she had recorded earlier. "See this? She seems to be focusing on shadow magic with a bit of ki thrown in." Kazumi paused for a moment and yawned. "Ah, sorry, it's been a long day. Anyway, apparently she learned kanka from somebody while she was out and about in the world. You know about the missions they sent her on."

Misa nodded. In the beginning of their senior year, Chizuru had been personally invited along with several others to join the local magic association, and, much to everyone's surprise, she had quickly accepted. They had held off on assigning missions to her until after graduation at least, but after that she had been off around the world more often than she had been home in Mahora. "So who's stronger? Me or Chizuru?"

"Honestly, the two of you are very close. From the readings I got from Hakase's scanners, that blast of yours that wrecked the desert environment showed that your magic power is quite a bit stronger than hers."

"Huhuhu," Misa laughed evilly.

"But! And this is a big 'but', Misa-chan~" Kazumi said, wagging her finger. "She has ki and kanka to fall back on, which you don't. Sorry Misa, but I think you'd lose to her in a serious, straight-up fight, the way you are now."

"Bleh," Misa replied, pasting a fake hurt expression on her face. "Yeah, yeah. I'm weaker than my classmate." She frowned. "She's really that strong?"

"Like you wouldn't believe," Kazumi replied as she called up another video that showed her point rather dramatically.

Misa whistled as she watched the image of a good-sized hill getting blown away. "So, how about Natsumi?"

Kazumi grinned wide this time. "She'd wipe the floor with both of you at the same time."

Misa gave her a sideways look to see if she was serious. "Let me get this straight, are you talking about Murakami Natsumi? Mousy girl, five foot nothing, scared to meet eyes with dog boy over there?" she asked gesturing.

Kazumi nodded. "Yep."

Misa just blinked at the other woman for a moment. "Me and Chizuru?"

Another nod from Kazumi.

"Both of us?"

Another nod.

"At the same time? The two most powerful shadow mages around?" she asked. "Barring Eva, of course," she added quickly.

"Of course," Kazumi said as she nodded yet again. "If-and that's a big if-she could find the motivation. I think she might be like Scary Max-sensei and Akira."

"What, crazy strong? She have to be if you're serious."

"Not just that," Kazumi said. "I think she may be one of those elementals, though I don't know what her element would be. I haven't said anything to anyone else, but I've observed a few recordings here and there, read a lot of old books and records, and there are certain things they all have in common that seem to be unique to elementals. And from what I've seen from her in the past few days in here, she's showing a lot of the signs."

"Really? Like what?" Misa asked, still trying to wrap her mind around the idea that gentle, shy little Natsumi-chan could kick her butt across Japan without even trying.

"Well you know, stuff like using spells without using the proper incantation, using unincanted spells without prior preparation, major power fluctuations when upset…that sort of thing. She doesn't even seem to realize she's doing that sort of thing most of the time."

Misa paused to let it all sink in. During their early training Natsumi had always had a sort of explosive power, but it hadn't ever seemed THAT strong, and she had never really been able to develop the control that she would need to really take charge of it anyway. Misa had always known she was fairly strong, but nothing like this… But she could tell Kazumi was dead serious about it. "That's amazing. Are you sure?"

Kazumi shrugged. "Pretty sure. But mostly, it's her eyes."

Misa raised an eyebrow. "Her eyes," she said, deadpan.

Kazumi nodded and grinned knowingly. "Definitely."

Misa just rolled her eyes and looked away. Kazumi knew something she wasn't telling and as usual, it was very annoying. "So what is about her eyes-"

"What?" Natsumi suddenly exclaimed, drawing the two girls' attention to where she faced Chizuru, a look of horror and embarrassment on her face.

* * *

"You should make a pactio with Kotarou-kun," Chizuru repeated. Kotarou just stood there, stunned and alternating between going pale and turning red.

"B-b-b-but he's Kotarou-kun!"

"Yes, and that is why you should do it," Chizuru said firmly.

"But he's…he's like a…a little brother! That's right, he's like a little brother to me!"

Chizuru just gave her a look that would would have turned a stranger into a whimpering pile of terrified goo. Natsumi just switched tactics.

"But there's no one here to draw the circle," she said, grasping at straws.

"Ah…not true. I can do it," Kazumi spoke up as she approached, digging a piece of chalk from her bag. "I learned how to do it last year," she said, grinning at the panic-stricken girl and dog-boy.

Natsumi gave her a pitiful, panicked look. "I…I…I haven't prepared myself!"

"Don't worry, it'll only take a second," Kazumi said as she quickly sketched out the pactio circle. "Besides, you kissed that guy you were dating back in high school didn't you?" she said as she connected the final line. "There, it's done. You come here, Kotarou," she said, pushing him into his spot as he stared at Natsumi, slack-jawed.

"You _kissed_ some guy?" he said, stunned and, strangely enough, more than a little jealous.

"That was different!" Natsumi wailed. "He kissed me!"

"You let some random guy _kiss you_?" Kotarou said, his voice turning squeaky at the end as his face took on a horrified look.

"It wasn't like that! He didn't mean anything to me!"

"Oh?" Kazumi asked slyly as she pushed Natsumi into position. "So Kotarou does?"

"Yes! I mean no! Argh, why are you guys doing this to me?" Natsumi demanded feebly as she backed away.

"Natsumi-chan," Chizuru said sternly as she moved to stand behind Natsumi and put her hands on the shorter girl's shoulders. "Step back into the circle."

Natsumi did it in spite of her denials and protestations.

"Well get on with it," Kazumi said, tapping her foot as her camera drones buzzed around to get every angle of the pactio kiss.

"What's going on?" Eva asked as she opened the door of a nearby building and stepped out into the entry area.

"Natsumi-san's finally going to make a pactio with Kotarou-kun," Misa said as she took in Eva's somewhat dazed expression and the way her hair was mussed from sleep. "How was your nap?" she asked.

"It was going good up until you lot showed up. So what are they waiting for?" Eva asked sleepily. "They're ruining my beauty sleep." She yawned.

"I-I-I can't do this!" Natsumi said again.

"Oh for the love of…" Eva said as she strolled over, grabbed the hair on the back of both victims' heads, and pushed their faces together so their lips touched. The circle glowed and an invisible pulse of power blasted out, driving the breath from Misa's lungs and drawing an 'oof' from Kazumi.

"Hey Kazumi, did you draw the circle properly," Eva asked after a moment.

Kazumi, shaken, looked in a small leather-bound book and nodded a moment later. "Yes, it's right."

"...that was weird," Misa said after a moment as the fluttering in her stomach subsided.

Kotarou and Natsumi just stared at each other, their eyes wide and seeing nothing but each other.

"Oh get a room," Eva snapped as Misa moved closer to look at the circle.

And then, an odd thing happened. Eva gave Kotarou a careless shove as she went by. Kotarou, taken off balance, fell into Natsumi, who, being maybe a hundred pounds soaking wet, stumbled backward and fell, dragging a flailing Kotarou down with her. Kotarou, for his part, tried to catch his balance by swinging his arms, but accidentally caught hold of Misa's wrist, dragging her toward him as he fell. Misa, flailing for balance now herself, stumbled forward and tripped over Kotarou and Natsumi and fell straight into Eva, who seemed to have been caught off guard by the sudden insanity. Misa, being taller and heavier than Eva, bore her to the ground in such a manner that their lips met as they hit the ground, right in the center of the pactio circle, which activated again.

Kazumi just stared, slack jawed, while Chizuru uttered a quiet "Oh my" and delicately covered her mouth with her hand to hide her amusement.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?" Eva shouted as she shoved Misa off. Her hand settled on a small rectangular object, which she looked at with dawning horror.

It was a pactio card.

_For Misa. _

Eva jumped to her feet, spitting and wiping her mouth while Misa just stared at her from her place on the ground and Kotarou and Natsumi gazed into each other's eyes two feet away.

"Geh…get off," Natsumi muttered, one arm around Kotarou's back and her other hand clamped around his arm, holding him in place above her.

"I…I…I..." Kotarou repeated, his mind stuck in an infinite loop as he looked at her. Natsumi's normally mousy hair was spread out on the ground under her head in a way that was simply hypnotic, and Kotarou couldn't drag his eyes away.

Naturally, the whole thing sent Kazumi into a laughing fit. "This is great! Oh man, I got it all on camera too, everyone's going to just _love_ this!"

_That_ got everyone moving.

* * *

"So, let me see that pactio card," Asuna demanded. Everyone who could make it there was seated around a long dining table in Eva's resort, gathered in celebration of Natsumi and Kotarou finally _doing_ something. It had been Haruna's idea, of course, and Chizuru had demanded that everyone follow through.

Misa handed the card over easily enough, though she was still a little embarrassed about what had happened. Still, there were worse people to have as your magister than Eva... Not that she could think of any at the moment. She sighed. Eva would probably demand twice-weekly blood donations now...

"Ha, you're a witch!" Asuna exclaimed gleefully, interrupting Misa's increasingly morbid thoughts. Sure enough, the picture on the pactio card showed Misa in clothing reminiscent of a western-style witch, pointy hat and all. It suited her actually, especially when one took her abilities into account. However, instead of a broom she had a large scythe, her hair was jet black, and were those vampire fangs poking out of her mouth? Asuna couldn't read the latin parts, so she passed the card back to Misa and turned on Kotarou. "How about yours, Kotarou-kun?" she asked, not the least bit embarrassed to be addressing the much bigger man in such a manner.

"Eh…? Is that all right?" he asked, looking at Natsumi, who was _still_ embarrassed, looking down at the tabletop with her hands in her lap. The two of them had been forced to sit side by side at the long dining table, with Chizuru beside Natsumi and Haruna beside Kotarou.

"I…I guess it's okay," Natsumi said.

Kotarou somehow managed to drag his eyes away from Natsumi's lips and passed the card to Asuna. 'What's wrong with me? I was never like this before...!' he thought as his eyes strayed back to the short girl again.

It was fairly typical as far as pactio cards went. Asuna had thought for sure that Kotarou would get a weapon of some sort, probably a sword, but instead it seemed to be a set of drama masks. In the picture, he was holding up the one that symbolized tragedy to half cover his face, and was smirking behind it in the shadow it had cast on his face. The overall effect was a little disturbing, but she let it pass.

But what was truly strange was that Natsumi had received a pactio card of her own as well, much as Akira had years ago when she forcibly pactioed Max-sensei and Jennifer while in a trance.

"How did you end up with one too?" Asuna asked as she took Natsumi's pactio card for inspection. It was a little unusual as pactio cards go. The picture was of Natsumi of course; she held a flaming bullwhip or something similar in each hand. The odd part was the unusual yellowish glow radiating out from behind her. Asuna had seen a lot of pactio cards over the years, what with being Negi's first pactio partner, but while many featured a glow, she had never seen one quite like this.

"I don't know," Natsumi said. "Maybe it was a problem with the circle?"

Kazumi shook her head again, but Eva spoke up before she could reply. "That is most likely what happened. It's highly unusual, but not unheard of," she said, then sniffed dismissively. "Usually, it seems to be something to do with ambient energy interfering with the ritual, and…hey, you should be listening to this! Hey!" Unfortunately, everyone around the dinner table was talking loudly and making all sorts of noise, drowning out Eva's lecture. It was most annoying. She let out an annoyed sigh and took another sip of red wine.

"Ah, don't worry about it, don't worry about it," Asuna said, waving her hand and completely ignoring Eva. "Do you still have the card from your pactio with Negi?" she asked Natsumi. Luckily Negi had had more pressing concerns at the moment, and was not currently in the resort.

Natsumi nodded and dug out the old card. "So now I have two," she said tiredly. "I wonder what happens if I use both at once?"

Eva snorted but kept her silence.

Natsumi stepped back from the table, held up both cards, one in each hand, and said the command word. "Adeat." Indeed, she had summoned the artifacts from both cards. The so-called 'cloak of hiding' from her old pactio with Negi was on her back, and she held a bullwhip in each hand. She had also acquired a dark leather belt with hooks apparently meant for the coiled whips. She hooked the whips in place and put her hands on her hips. "How do I look?"

Some of those seated around the table gave the expected whistles and catcalls and one particularly embarrassing remark about whips and dogs and Kotarou-kun, but most of them nodded or gave her a thumbs up.

Eva, for her part, stood up and circled the girl. "Does the cloak still work properly?" she asked as she fingered the material. Cloaks of that sort were rare and highly valued; she had always wanted to get her hands on one…

"I don't know, let me see," Natsumi said as she put the hood up and pulled the edges of the cloak together in front of her. After a moment, several of those who had been watching realized they had forgotten something, but couldn't put a name on what it was until Natsumi suddenly reappeared as she shrugged off the cloak.

"Ah, I hate that thing," Asuna said as Natsumi dismissed the artifacts. "I can never tell when you're around."

"I hate it too," Natsumi said, frowning. It was useful at times, true. But the cloak artifact hid her presence from _everyone_, even those who had seen her put it on. And when you got down to it, it went even further than that. The thing seemed to actually make other people forget her very existence retroactively when she put it on. Incredibly useful when it came to hiding or running away, but…it brought back bad memories of being overshadowed by everyone around her, and the feelings associated with those memories.

"Hey, are you okay, Natsumi-nee...Natsumi?" Kotarou asked her quietly, barely managing to correct himself before Chizuru could do it for him.

"I guess," she said.

"Want to go for a walk and cool off for a while?"

Natsumi smiled up at him and he felt his heart flutter. "Yeah."

"Heh, great." Kotarou grinned awkwardly as he tried to put on a big show of not caring. Why did he feel like this? All slow and dopey and...and hanging on every word she said? Sure, he had thought about her a lot during his time away, but he had thought of everybody! Why was everything so different now? Why was he noticing the way her lips moved when she smiled? Why did he just want to wrap her up in a big hug and protect her from everything? His mind briefly drifted off to wonder how it would feel to hold her frail body close, but he cut off that line of thought before it could pick up enough steam to run out of control. This whole thing didn't make any sense, none of it! It would all be so easy if he could just punch somebody and make everything go back to normal, but there didn't seem to be anything he could do! It was so aggravating...

Eva rolled her eyes as she watched Kotarou and Natsumi stare at each other with shining eyes for a moment. "Get a room."

* * *

_**Author's Notes:** Awww, how sweet. Also, Misa gets a pactio! So I guess she's some kind of Vampire-witch-reaper now...? Anyway, character profiles for Kotarou, Natsumi, and Chizuru below._

_

* * *

_

Inugami Kotarou - Not-So-Lonely Wolf

Born - ?

Height - 6'

Likes: Fighting, protecting the weak, dogs

Dislikes: Cats, vegetables

Little Known Facts: Though he denies it, he really, really, REALLY likes to be scratched behind his ears.

* * *

Murakami Natsumi - Shy Restaurant Manager (See story 'The Queen of Light')

Born - 10/21/1988

Height - 5'1"

Likes: Her friends, her magic

Dislikes: Shyness

Little Known Facts: She would throw herself in front of a dragon to protect her friends, and would probably come out of the situation just fine.

* * *

Naba Chizuru – Mostly Benevolent Protector

Born - 1/29/1989

Height - 5'8"

Likes: Children, cute baby animals, ultimate power

Dislikes: Rudeness

Little Known Facts: She is recognized as one of the local magic association's best new agents.


	17. Ch 15 Battle of the Bands

**Still Waters 3, Chapter 15, Battle of the Bands**

* * *

_It's Only Rock And Roll But I Like It_

_

* * *

_

While the members of Negi's group White Wing split their time between training in Eva's resort and settling debts and unfinished business in the real world in preparation for what might come in the summer, Ayumi's band prepared for the contest, which was rapidly approaching. Their days were filled with classes and practice and excitement about what they had planned in the weekend.

When the day finally arrived, the band gathered early in the morning and stood in silence at the bus stop, clutching their equipment with white-knuckled hands, looking everywhere but at each other.

* * *

Sunday, May 24th, 2009

* * *

Kondo Kai was the first one to break the silence. "So, did everyone get enough sleep last night?"

Ayumi gave a weak grin and barked a short laugh. "If two hours is enough, yeah."

Kara sighed. "It was the same with me. I couldn't sleep."

Miyako nodded. "Me too."

Kai shook her head and sighed. "I don't think I slept more than thirty minutes, myself."

"This will end badly," Ayumi stated as she slumped down on a bench and looked down at the ground.

The four girls fell into another awkward silence that seemed to stretch on interminably.

"Here comes the bus," Kai said, grabbing her things as she stood up. The others followed suit and climbed aboard the bus.

They were silent as they found their seats. "I wonder if we'll see anyone from class there…?" Miyako said after a moment.

"I don't know. But that Endo-san from class showed up a while back, nosing around. Apparently, she wanted to learn to play," Ayumi said, rolling her eyes. "Like we have time to teach someone how to play an instrument." She either didn't notice or chose to ignore the silence from her bandmates and continued on. "Besides, we would have to rebalance our look to make someone like her fit in. She's not very attractive."

Kara sighed heavily and looked out the window while Miyako blushed and fidgeted in embarrassment and Kai took out her mp3 player.

Ayumi got the hint and stopped talking.

* * *

A short time later, the four girls stood in front of the venue, in this case a small outside stage set up at a small college, watching the technicians finish putting everything together.

"So I guess it's real, huh?" Kai asked suddenly. "This is it, I mean."

"Yeah," Kara said coolly, her hand gripping the handle of her guitar case so tight her knuckles had gone white.

"Come on! Let's go in and get ready," Ayumi said as she felt her dream seemed to fall apart around her. She looked from one nervous face to another and picked the easiest target. "Miya-chan?"

"Eh…eh? Okay," the shy girl said as she followed Ayumi toward the building near the stage, where several other instrument-carrying people had already gone.

* * *

The four girls looked at each other blankly. "Um…"

The receptionist gave them a bored look and raised her eyebrow. "It's a simple question. What's your band name?"

"Ah…"

Ayumi, as the leader, spoke up. "I…don't know?"

The receptionist sighed. "Look, I can't sign you in unless you have a name for your band," she explained. "Just choose something. Pick a tree, use your last names, just do something before people start lining up."

"Um, um, um-"

"Here, I'll put you down as something pretentious if you can't think of anything," the receptionist said as she took up a pen. "Let's see…'Downtown Tragic', that seems embarrassing enough."

"Noooo…!"

* * *

"I can't believe we almost got named 'Downtown Tragic'!" Kai said when they had settled in at the room they had been assigned. It was small and cramped and seemed to have been used to store cleaning chemicals until yesterday, but it would work. She was just glad they weren't crammed into a bigger room with five other bands. She had always thought that bands got their own lavish dressing rooms...apparently her dreams had been only that.

"Still…'No Name Band'?" Kara asked after a moment.

"It was all I could think of!" Ayumi said defensively as she opened her guitar case. "I didn't see you coming up with anything good."

"True."

Kai and Miyako watched them sitting there trading barbs as they tuned their guitars. Both Ayumi and Kara's hands were shaking visibly as they made adjustments.

"We could have planned this out much better," Kai said as she took out her drumsticks are started spinning them. It was a trick she had picked up from a kid she used to go to school with, only he had done it with pencils.

"I…I think I'm going to be sick," Miyako said after a moment, clutching her stomach.

* * *

Kondo Kai wandered through the maze of hallways some time later, looking for a vending machine. It was getting pretty crowded by this point, and now and then she spotted a face she recognized from the shows Ayumi dragged her to from time to time. A familiar head of long purple hair caught her attention at one point, but it quickly disappeared around a corner. Finally, tired of searching for the elusive vending machines, she pulled aside a big man in black and white face paint, wearing spikes and what looked like animal pelts.

"Do you know where I can find a vending machine?" Kai asked.

"I think I saw one back that way," the man replied in a pleasant tone, pointing the way. "Take a right when you go around the corner."

"Thanks!"

* * *

By the time Kai returned with an armful of drinks, the situation in their dressing room had changed a lot. Kara was _still_ tuning her bass, but Ayumi was now pacing the room at such a furious speed that she might as well be running, and Miyako was belting out the practice set that was normally reserved for actors preparing for a play.

Kai just sighed and passed out the drinks.

"How is it out there?" Ayumi asked after a long, unladylike gulp of orange soda.

"Well, it's getting pretty crowded. You should see all the weird costumes! I had to ask this guy wearing spikes and animal fur where the vending machines were."

"Wow…" Miyako cheeped.

"Be careful with your voice, Miyako," Kara said warningly without looking up from her tuning. Miyako nodded and fell silent.

"Is it okay, I mean? Do they look like they're good?" Ayumi pressed.

"Well, some of them do. Most of them seem like us, but some of them…I think they might be professionals."

Miyako turned white at that and took up the pacing Ayumi had left off. Kara was _still_ tuning her bass.

"Are you sure?" Ayumi asked, clutching Kai's shoulders with both hands.

"...pretty sure."

"Ohnonohnoohnoohno," Ayumi repeated endlessly as she returned to her pacing behind Miyako. Kai settled down in a nearby chair and tried to prepare herself for playing in front of a real crowd for the first time.

* * *

After a while, things outside settled down as the halls emptied and the other bands found their rooms and settled down to prepare for the fast approaching contest.

"They're letting the crowd in," Miyako said as she reentered the room. She had gone out earlier to get more drinks. "I think I may not make it," she gulped.

"D-don't worry Miya-chan! It'll be great! And if your voice craps out on us I'll have to punish you!"

Kai sighed as Ayumi tried and failed miserably to reassure the shy girl. She turned to Kara to tell her to get Ayumi to stop, but the other girl was _still_ tuning her instrument. That was a good way to wear out the tuning pegs... 'I should have known,' she thought. 'We're just not cut out for this sort of thing. We're going to fail horribly and end up in last place, just wait and see.'

* * *

"Oh thank God we got past the preliminaries," Ayumi blurted out as they filed back into their dressing room some time later.

Kai nodded, visibly relieved. The majority of the bands that had shown up had been cut during the preliminaries, and the newly christened 'No Name Band' had almost been one of them. "We probably should have played something original instead of that Beatles song," she said.

"Well how was I to know the head judge hated the Beatles?" Ayumi asked as she flopped down on a chair. "Come on, Kara. Stop moping," she ordered.

Ayumi and Kai had decided on the clothing choices beforehand without telling Kara or Miyako, and neither the bassist nor the singer had been pleased. In fact, Kara was currently in the process of throwing off the short, strappy little thing she had been forced to wear during their performance. Kai could clearly remember the sneaky grin on Ayumi's face when she found it at that clothing store she liked so much. She had known Kara wouldn't like it, but she had been completely unprepared for the barely restrained fury the bassist was currently shaking with.

"I do not appreciate being made into something for the judges to ogle at," Kara said in a steady, measured tone that indicated horrible death had narrowly been averted. She pulled a shirt from her bag and slipped it over her head; it fit like a glove.

Kai rolled her eyes and began massaging her forehead. Kara refused to wear a skimpy dress, but had no problem wearing a shirt so tight you could see individual skin cells? What was up with that? And with the way the girl was built-

"You should relax, you're probably the reason we just scraped by to make it into the actual tournament," Ayumi replied cheerfully.

It was true, too, Kai thought as she jealously looked at the other girl's legs and chest. And everything in between. It just wasn't fair…!

Kara growled something under her breath in response.

"So, how ya doin, Miyako?" Ayumi asked, looking for a new victim to tease while her adrenaline high was still roaring.

Miyako, beet red, was looking at her reflection in a full-length mirror. "This is…it's awfully short," she said, referring to her own dress as she tried once again to pull the bottom hem down. It didn't work very well. She wondered briefly how she had even found the nerve to put the thing on; sure, it was really cute, but…

"Yeah, that it is," Ayumi replied cheerfully, all smiles. In her way of thinking, Miyako was the voice, and therefore the face, of the band, and it simply wouldn't do to have her look anything but her best, not at their first show. But sadly, the girl just wasn't sexy enough to pull it off on her own. She was cute, true…ridiculously cute even, but she just didn't have the flare that Ayumi was looking for, not without something special like that dress. Honestly, Kara would have been a _much_ better choice for the face of the band, but she sang like a banshee.

"It looks good; you shouldn't worry about it. Just a bit of advice though: don't stand too close to the edge of the stage while you're wearing that thing, okay?"

"…what? Why?" Miyako asked, mystified.

"What she means," Kai said gently, "is that if you stand at the edge of the stage the crowd can see your underwear."

"Then again, maybe you should. It would help give us more exposure," Ayumi said, chuckling at her wit. Miyako was always good for teasing.

Miyako, meanwhile, quickly followed Kara's example and fought her way out of the dress as quickly as she could.

"You know, they've got a point," Kai said after a moment. "We shouldn't be doing this. The dresses are nice and all, but…they don't really fit the image we're trying to create, you know? Besides, it was kinda mean to force Kara and Miyako to wear 'em."

"Getting cocky, aren't we?" Ayumi asked, still ecstatic over the fact that her band, the band _she_ had put together, had been good enough to advance into an actual Battle of the Bands to care about much else at the moment.

"I think Kai is right," Kara said as she pulled a chair around and sat down backwards on it to face her friends, propping her arms up in front of her on the backrest. She was glad to be out of that dress and into some pants. "This isn't right," she said, gesturing to where the dress had landed when she tossed it aside earlier. "And besides, we should be playing our own music anyway."

Miyako nodded.

"Ugh, an idealist!" Ayumi said, then stuck her tongue out at Kara to lessen the impact. "So you all feel like that, huh?" Ayumi asked as she reluctantly began peeling off her dress to change into her normal clothing as well. Everyone nodded, so she sighed. "Okay, fine. If we get a bunch of zero ratings from the judges, it's all your fault," she said jokingly. "Seriously. I'll never forgive you."

"I'm going for a walk," Kara said as she opened the door. Ayumi waved as she watched the American girl leave.

"Yeah, we get it, you'll hate us forever, etcetera etcetera," Kai said when the door closed. "But can you imagine? I heard someone say Dekopin Rocket was here!"

"I know!" Ayumi squealed in delight. "I wonder if we'll get to see them on stage? Wouldn't that be so cool?"

"But you know, we might end up against them in the tournament bracket," Kai said after a moment.

Ayumi dropped into a chair, all her energy instantly gone. "We're doomed." If they went up against her idols, they would definitely lose. There was no way around it. If Dekopin Rocket was really here, they would be the favorites to win the contest, and for good reason. They were a band standing on the precipice of greatness, a band bursting with talent just waiting for the right combination of events to expose their music to the world. And sadly, Ayumi had no delusions about which band was more deserving of such a thing at the moment.

"It doesn't matter," Ayumi said after a moment. "We'll just do the best we can, it's all we _can_ do."

Kai nodded in agreement as she took up her drumsticks and started to spin them. That had been deep, much deeper than the sort of thing Ayumi usually went on about. Maybe this would be a good experience for her...maybe turn her around? She glanced back at the other girl and was somehow not surprised to see her already bothering Miyako again. She heaved a sigh. "No, probably not..."

"Did you say something?" Ayumi asked from where she was trying to tug Miyako's hair into a ponytail to match Kara's.

Kai shook her head, wincing at the force the other girl was using. "Nothing."

* * *

Nomura Kazuya, known as 'Kazu' to his friends and that little pink haired filly he was engaged to (whether she liked it or not!), was having a great time. A long time admirer of music, women, and women who made music, he was familiar with many such bands who were on the verge of a major breakout into the entertainment world. He had come here to see the band Dekopin Rocket, maybe try to lay that fine, fine singer they had as a sort of last hurrah for bachelorhood before his marriage, but another girl had caught his eye instead; the bassist from a new group he had never heard of before, called, amusingly enough, the 'No Name Band'. What other choice did he have? So, using a bit of his parents money and a few names dropped here and there, he now found himself wandering the halls in the off limits area where the bands had been assigned their dressing rooms. Unfortunately, no one had labeled the doors with anything but numbers, and he didn't particularly relish the idea of opening random doors until he found the one he was looking for. Nicely buzzing from the beers he had had earlier, he waited near the vending machines for one of those girls to show up. He knew they would have to at some point; the receptionist herself had told him that the four girls had come in alone, with no assistants at all to bring refreshments or carry equipment.

They would be weak, falling easily for his promises of 'talking to a guy he knew' to get them a contract. Sure, he knew a few guys, but none that could get that group to where they probably wanted to go. But it wouldn't be a _complete_ lie, just a small one...he smirked.

And so it was in this frame of mind that he spotted Kara Stride putting money into the vending machine. He sighed sadly at the fact that she was no longer wearing that dress, but the jeans and especially that shirt made up for it.

"Hey babe, I saw you up on stage and-"

She took her drinks from the machine, ignoring him, and turned to go, so he snagged her elbow. "I was talking to you," he said rudely, standing tall in order to use his unusual height to intimidate her. He mistook the look she shot at him for something it wasn't, and smiled. 'Looks like I might be in luck; it's not like my freaking _fiance_ will put out…' "Now come on, I'm saying I'm interested-"

She gently detached his hand from her arm and gave him a light push that almost made him lose his balance. He wondered briefly if he should just give it up, if maybe he had had too much to drink, but another look at her chest settled it for him. This time when he grabbed her arm, he jerked her back toward him, knocking the soda cans from her grasp. "I said-"

"Let go."

He glared at her. 'How dare she…!' "Heh, you think you can talk to me like that…" He yanked her close and hugged her against his body tightly, and was pleased when she put her arms around him. But something was strange. Why was still glaring at him, and why was she digging her fingers in like claws just over his hip bones...?

What occurred next happened too quickly for his drink-addled mind to comprehend.

Kara, in one smooth motion, jumped up, using the leverage gained from digging her hands into his sides to slip upward out of his embrace, reared back, and gave him the mother of all headbutts.

Kazu dropped like a rock, and Kara staggered as he dropped her. Someone put a hand on her shoulder to steady her, and she was suddenly aware of perhaps half a dozen people standing around and clapping.

"Nice going, girl!"

"Ha! You really showed him!"

"Ah…ah…" Kara's face went beet red as she looked around wildly. That had been scary…! She shivered in spite of herself. She had never been good with things like that…

"Hey now, you're bleeding. Let me take care of that," a short black-haired woman said as she pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and started dabbing at Kara's forehead with it. "It's a pretty bad cut. Here, put some pressure on it," she said in a businesslike manner as she guided Kara to a chair and moved her hand up to the handkerchief until her head stopped spinning from the impact of the headbutt. Someone else collected the soda cans and put them in a bag for her, and then she was sent on her way back to the room, still a little dazed from the incident.

A short time and several halls away, she spotted a familiar head of red hair moving among the crowd in the hallway. 'Mochizuki is here?' she thought dazedly. What business did _that_ girl, of all people, have here? As far as she knew, Mochizuki didn't even _like_ music.

Kara followed the Mochizuki girl through the halls until she stopped in front of a door, probably leading to another band's dressing room. Curious, Kara settled in behind the wall and peeked around the corner to watch, the incident just moments past temporarily forgotten.

Mochizuki knocked on the door and was let in by none other than the lead singer of Dekopin Rocket; Kara recognized her from the many pictures Ayumi insisted on showing her.

* * *

Ayumi was looking at a piece of paper that had just been delivered when the door opened again. "Hey Kara, guess what?" she said as she looked up. She immediately rushed over when she saw the blood on the handkerchief Kara was holding to her forehead. "Kara! Are you okay? What happened?" Miyako and Kai rushed over to help as well.

The bassist shrugged the other girls off and glanced at the mirror, frowning as she put the bag containing the nearly forgotten drinks down on a nearby chair. The blood from the cut on her forehead had clotted into a black, sticky mess, and some hair had become stuck in it. She quickly set to work cleaning it as she explained, carefully choosing her words so as not to show her friends just how terrified she had been. Now, how to distract them... "Some guy was hitting on me, so I hit him back. Anyway, I saw Mochizuki. Did you know she knows that band you like so much?"

"Mochizuki? You mean Kagami-chan?" Ayumi asked. Kara nodded. "Wow…" 'I'm going to have to interrogate her later,' Ayumi thought to herself.

"What did you want to say when I came in?" Kara asked as she finished cleaning the last of the blood from her forehead.

"Oh, right. Here's the contest bracket! It's being done single-elimination style, and look at this!" Ayumi said as she shoved the paper in Kara's face.

Kara took the sheet of paper and glanced over it. "Sixteen bands…this will probably last until midnight!" she said. "I don't recognize many of these band names…"

"I know, right? Most of 'em are unknowns, so if we play well we should have a pretty good chance! There's no doubt we'll be facing Dekopin Rocket in the semifinals though."

"Well, third place isn't that bad," Kara said.

"If we make it that far," Kai said as she took the bloody handkerchief from Kara and passed her a roll of paper towels.

"Yeah, yeah."

"Will you be okay like that?" Miyako said, eyeing Kara's injury.

"Probably. We'll see when we get out there," Kara said, then broke into a huge smile. Now that the scary part was over, her blood was really pumping and she felt like they might actually be able to _do_ this...!

"You're pumped up," Kai said in a bored tone as she started washing the handkerchief in the sink. Huh…a little bit of violence and the girl perked right up. "Anyway, we're on in another fifteen minutes or so." She wrung out the handkerchief and held it up to the light for a moment. Something in the bottom corner caught her attention, so she squinted her eyes to read it, cursing her terrible vision as she did so.

"What's that?" Ayumi asked pleasantly.

"It's got something embroidered in the corner," Kai said, moving the piece of cloth close as she read. "It says 'Kugi…miya…Madoka'?"

* * *

The crowd broke into wild applause as they finished their song. They waited for the judges with bated breath, and…good scores. They gave their condolences to the other band and headed back to their room.

"Okay, three left!" Ayumi said enthusiastically.

* * *

Ayumi stumbled over a few chords on their next song, but the other band's singer strained his voice halfway through and had to drop out, so the No Name Band moved up again.

Unfortunately, this time they faced Ayumi's idols.

* * *

Dekopin Rocket played first, blowing the crowd away with an original song that had received quite a bit of local radio play.

Ayumi's band didn't stand a chance, following up an act like that; few other bands would have either. Everyone played perfectly and Miyako hit all the notes just right, but the difference in skill really showed, and they were eliminated.

On the plus side, the members of Dekopin Rocket were polite about it, and even offered to have a jam session some time…apparently Misa-sama was impressed with them. Of course Misa-sama's band went on to win the prize in the end.

* * *

Miyako slumped against Kai as they waited at the bus stop for the last bus of the night that would take them back to the dorms.

"We did pretty well," Kai said for the tenth time as she made sure her hat was firmly in place. She had worn it all through the competition, having pinned it in place before leaving the dorms early in the morning. No sense in revealing her secret to the world, after all. Not even her bandmates knew about her being an oni.

"Yeah," Ayumi responded gloomily. She followed that up with a yawn as she looked around at her friends.

"Heh...I can't believe you squealed that loud when Kakizaki-san agreed to play with us some time," Kai said.

"Shut up!"

"That giant hug was a bit over the top too," Kai said, grinning sleepily as she replayed the scene in her mind. Misa had barely had time to walk off the stage before Ayumi was firing questions at her. The woman had been surprised at her exuberance, even more so when Ayumi had glomped her so hard she staggered back into a wall. Kai had just stood there, watching in open-mouthed shock while Ayumi all but molested the leader of her favorite band. The backstage crew and most of Misa's bandmates had simply burst into laughter, however, except the black haired one, who had just gaped at the scene in horror. Kai had of course recognized all of them as people she often saw around Mahora; she had even sat and chatted with Ako for ten minutes at a bus stop once...! She reached up and squeezed the bridge of her nose. Why had she never noticed? Ayumi had shown her pictures of them since pretty much _forever_; how could she not realize she interacted with them on a weekly basis? She sighed again and slumped back, then glanced over at her other two bandmates.

Kara seemed asleep on her feet, her head hanging with her bangs down over her eyes while Miya-chan kept dozing off and waking up as she leaned against her.

"We did good," Ayumi said again. She hadn't realized playing all day, combined with the stress of the event, would be so exhausting. She ached in weird places too. But still, they had placed. The judges, unable to choose between the two bands in third place, had simply split the monetary prize between them. So now Ayumi had several hundred dollars to split among the four of them…not bad. She had never been paid for playing music before, but…it was nice. She grinned sleepily.

"I could get used to this!"

* * *

_**Author Notes**: So Ayumi's not a total asshole, right? Anyway, another chapter focusing on the new students. I hate to ask for reviews, but...please review! I would like to get other people's opinions so I can improve my writing. P_

_rofiles for Kazu, Misa, and Madoka below._

* * *

Nomura Kazuya - Jerkass Heir

Born - 8/7/1987

Height - 6'4"

Likes: Wine, Women, Music

Dislikes: Being on the losing side in any conflict

Little Known Facts: He is so wrapped up in himself that he didn't even realize Makie wasn't coming back until almost a week after she left.

* * *

Kakizaki Misa - Crazy Magical Singing Guitarist

Born 5/15/1988

Height - 5'6"

Likes: Music, being famous, Negi

Dislikes: Judgmental people

Little Known Facts: She secretly enjoys it when Madoka beats people up for hitting on her.

* * *

Kugimiya Madoka - The Ace of Spades

Born - 3/3/1989

Height - 5'4"

Likes: Fighting, making her guitar scream and cry.

Dislikes: Getting teased

Little Known Facts: She secretly REALLY enjoys watching music videos of '80s hair bands.


	18. Ch 16 Suspicious People

**Still Waters 3, Chapter 16, Suspicious People**

* * *

_Threaten No More, To Secure Peace Is To Prepare For War_

_

* * *

_

Tuesday, May 26th, 2009

* * *

Sakai Reiko was looking through the window during lunch, watching a ghost wandering around in the parking lot below. She frowned. For some reason, more and more of them had been showing up lately, and she didn't know why. It was troubling. Usually they seemed to avoid this part of Mahora; for the longest time the only really noticeable one had only been Sayo-chan. But this past month or so...

"Did you hear about Kaoru-chan from class four? She was assaulted by a ghost last night!" a girl said nearby as she took out her lunch.

"What? That's scary, you know? Is she sure it was a ghost?" another girl asked.

"Yeah, totally sure! She swung her bag at it, but it went right through! Isn't that creepy?"

Reiko closed the intervening space between the two girls and herself. "Is this true?"

"Whoa! Sorry Sakai-san, you startled me," one of the girls said apologetically.

Reiko put her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes slightly. "Is this true? Was that girl attacked by a ghost?"

The first girl, Reiko thought her name was Nanami or Nanako or something like that, shrank back, but nodded. "I heard her say it herself…"

Reiko nodded. "Where is she?"

"In that classroom over there," the second girl said, pointing the way.

Reiko gave her a curt nod and headed off.

"She's scary," Nanako said after a moment when Reiko was gone; the other girl nodded.

* * *

"Hey, who's Kaoru?" Reiko bellowed as she entered the classroom, causing all heads to turn toward her. "Well?"

Most of the students pointed at a girl on the far side of the room, who shrank down in her chair.

"Kaoru, I want to talk to you," Reiko said as she stood in the doorway with her arms crossed, tapping her foot in irritation. She couldn't stand shallow girls, and all indications thus far, the hairstyle, the makeup, the designer handbag... were that this 'Kaoru-chan' was one such girl. "Hurry up."

"O…okay," Kaoru said as she stood up.

They walked side by side toward the world tree, Reiko taking up a lot of space with her hands on her hips, and Kaoru shrunken and hunched over her bag, which she clutched protectively to her chest. They were entering the plaza when she finally worked up the nerve to speak. "What-"

"I understand you saw a ghost last night," Reiko interrupted, having been waiting for the opportunity to do so.

"S-sort of."

"Well go on, what happened?"

"I was walking down one of the paths near the forest on my way back to the dorm, and this black shape was standing there in the middle, blocking my way."

Reiko frowned further and motioned for the girl to continue.

"Well…he just stood there. I asked him if he was okay, but he ignored me until I got closer, then he ran off into the bushes."

Reiko grunted and crossed her arms. "That's all that happened?"

"Well, I guess it was really cold and spooky there for some reason, that's why I thought it was a ghost."

"Did you see enough to get a description?" Reiko asked.

The girl thought hard for a moment. "Well, it was dark out so I couldn't see much, but he was dressed in dark colors, like black or brown. The streetlight at that spot is out so I couldn't see any details, but he seemed kind of pale."

Reiko sighed. What Kaoru had just said described half the ghosts in town. Not a good start. "How tall was he?" she asked.

"Almost as tall as Scary Max-sensei back in the middle school, but not as big…he was pretty thin," she said, holding her hands apart to show the size difference.

"Okay," Reiko said. "Can you show me where it happened?"

* * *

"It was here," the girl said, pointing out where she had been standing during the event a few moments later. "He was really close when I saw him, standing in the path right over there," she said, pointing.

Reiko nodded. "What happened after you saw him?"

"He ran away into the woods and disappeared."

Reiko frowned. "Are you sure it was this spot?"

The girl looked around for a moment, nodded.

"Okay, that's all I wanted to know, you can go back now," Reiko said dismissively as she turned her attention to the sidewalk.

The girl looked confused for a moment. "Um..."

"I'm done with you, shoo," Reiko said, waving her away without even looking at her.

When the confused girl was finally gone, Reiko took the time to look around more thoroughly. This was a little-used path that led to a long abandoned school building in the woods. The only people who still used it were those who wanted to avoid the crowds on the other walkways, or lovers out looking for a private place to spend an hour alone. She felt bad about treating that girl the way she had, but something about girls like that just bothered her. Kaoru was utterly normal for a girl her age, an existence that Reiko had never experienced and knew she never would. Kaoru would probably grow up to go to college and get a decent office job somewhere...Reiko shook her head in annoyance and turned her attention back to the path.

She took a close look at the ground, and after a moment spotted something. Right there in the loose dirt at the edge of the path was the back half of a large shoeprint, leading off into the bushes. 'So I was right, then.' Kaoru had simply come upon someone who didn't want to be seen, and he had fled. Reiko cut through the bushes and into the woods, cursing under her breath as her legs were scratched. It seemed the uniform dresses of St. Ursula High School were getting shorter every year. Stupid perverted headmaster. That guy was almost as bad as old Konoemon...!

Once past the bushes and into the woods, she look around in disgust. It seemed that many people had been here in the past; she grimaced as she spotted several disgusting pieces of evidence. Some people would just throw that kind of thing anywhere…

She returned to the path. "Figures," she said aloud as she set off for the high school again. Something about the area didn't feel right, though…something of a supernatural bent _had_ been here recently. Maybe the girl had seen a ghost, and maybe the girl had seen a normal person, but both had spent quite a bit of time in the area lately. Someone had to be told about this.

* * *

"There was another one," Negi said, frowning at nothing in particular as he walked alongside Reiko after school the next day.

"What, you mean just another spotting, or did something actually happen this time?" Reiko asked.

"Apparently, a man in dark clothing accosted a female student last night; he ran away when she screamed. And from what I hear, there have been sightings of a 'dark man' for the past two weeks."

"Has anyone been hurt, or was that girl last night the only one?" Reiko asked. Honestly, she was surprised that such a person had survived this long, what with the carefree vigilanteism of so many of Mahora's inhabitants.

"She was the first person he had spoken to," Negi said. "I think we should let the students know to be careful."

Reiko nodded. It was sound advice.

"In fact," Negi continued. "Shizuna-sensei is preparing patrol schedules as we speak; you may be pressed into service again, Reiko-san."

Reiko sighed heavily. "Wonderful."

* * *

"Okay everyone, please find the other members of your patrol teams as listed on the schedule you received earlier. Does anyone have any questions?" Shizuna asked the sizable crowd of Campus Defense members who had been crammed into the briefing room. There was a subdued muttering, but no one spoke up. "Good. Now I repeat: If you find the suspect, Do Not Injure Him Unnecessarily! He may simply be a homeless man or someone who is not aware of his actions. Now you know your shifts, so be on time. Dismissed."

Reiko had a disgruntled look on her face as she stood up.

Asuna grinned at her. "What's wrong?"

"I just thought I wouldn't have to do this anymore after I got into St. Ursula," Reiko said. "They promised me, actually, in return for all the exorcisms."

Asuna nodded in commiseration. She knew all about the exorcisms…while the school campus and the area around it tended to be safe, the _city_ of Mahora seemed to gather lots of ghosts and spirits from time to time, and many of them needed to be taken care of before they could cause any problems. Spirits weren't quite the same thing as ghosts, but rather a sort of manifestation of residual energy, or something. Asuna couldn't quite recall Negi's full explanation. Just that spirits were like favorite pets at best, rabid killing machines at worst, and completely unlike a ghost, which was simply a human that had regrettably died with unfinished business. Probably. If she had understood Negi and Eva's explanations right. Well, whatever. In any case, Asuna knew Reiko had been scouted by agents of the headmaster and offered a free education in return for using her naturally developed abilities to sense and exorcise evil spirits. Reiko had later worked out a deal for them to let her stop regular patrols when she entered high school, since being one of those who were close to death, she had a very weak body, and performing an exorcism was difficult work when one was unprepared.

"It's not all that bad. Most likely the first shift will capture him and that'll be that," Asuna said.

"I hope so. I haven't had a decent night's sleep in weeks."

* * *

P.E. teacher Max Linell made his way silently down the path, watching closely for any signs of activity as he went. He paused briefly at the spot where the girl had been stopped the night before, knelt down beside the bushes, and went absolutely still; his dark clothing helped hide him from sight, and someone who wasn't looking for him could pass by within ten feet and not see him.

Until his radio crackled, anyway.

'Red leader, this is red four. I found a suspicious person just east of the new gym, over.'

He fumbled with the radio until he found the correct button. "Copy red four, this is red leader. I'll be there soon. All the rest of you, stay put and keep an eye out."

This was followed by a chorus of 'I copy's, and Max grumbled under his breath about stupid radios and idiots who couldn't understand the concept of stealth.

* * *

Mochizuki Kagami had heard all about the dangerous man wandering around the campus at night; and, after extensive thought and internal argument, made the decision to go against Misa's advice and renew her discarded alter ego, Magical Girl Kagamin, and go out hunting.

And so it was that Kagami was on her way to investigate the place where a girl had been accosted the night before, that she saw a large dark shape moving across a field.

Breath racing, Kagami set off after him, quickly chanting the new spell she had been practicing. "Sagitta Magica Una Fulguralis!" A single magic arrow streaked forward.

The running figure faltered for a few steps, then turned swiftly to face the magic arrow. Kagami couldn't see what happened, but suddenly there was a blinding explosion of fire and her magic arrow disappeared.

And then, before she could even react, something bright and fiery was heading straight for her, and there was no time to raise a shield, no time to dodge, no time to do anything but die.

Something struck her hard in the chest, driving the breath from her lungs and knocking her off her feet. She hit the ground hard, stunned, and everything went black.

* * *

Kagami awoke in the nurse's station with a heavy feeling on her chest. A slow look around revealed Scary Max-sensei speaking with Shizuna-sensei. Both of them were wearing severe frowns, which only deepened when they turned to look at her and realized she was awake.

Shizuna moved over to Kagami's bed and checked her reflexes, temperature, and blood pressure, among other things, all in silence.

"Sensei…?"

"That was a stupid thing you did, Mochizuki," Max-sensei growled from his place at the open doorway.

Shizuna remained silent and she took up a stethoscope and put it under Kagami's shirt.

Kagami glanced shyly at the male teacher, and was relieved to see that he had turned to face the hallway.

"Um…what happened, exactly?" she asked when Shizuna was finished.

"You shot a lightning arrow at me," Max said as he moved to stand beside Shizuna. "You're obviously new at this; who taught you how to do that?"

Kagami shied away, but there was nowhere to run. "M-Misa-san." Misa was going to kill her…!

Both teachers sighed, and Max plopped down on one of the beds, which creaked alarmingly. "Figures. How long?"

"A little over a month," Kagami said quietly. Shizuna gave her a sharp look and she cringed back.

Max grunted. "A month and you're already doing magic arrows? You're not ready for that yet. The magisters advise you to master the basics before going on to spells like that, you know." He saw Kagami sort of shrink in on herself so he stopped; he had probably been pouring on the intimidation without realizing it again.

"Mochizuki-san," Shizuna began. "What were you doing out there?" She shot a dark look at Max.

"Well…I was hoping to find the suspicious guy everyone was talking about," she replied quietly.

"In this outfit?" Shizuna asked, gesturing from the long coat thrown over the back of a chair to the snug fitting black shirt, blue skirt, and long black socks Kagami was wearing.

"…yes," Kagami said, looking away as her face flashed red in embarrassment.

Max's frown tightened as he considered this. She was dressed like someone out of a comic book! 'So Mochizuki wants to be a hero, huh?'

"I almost killed you, you know," he said, startling the girl and drawing another glare from Shizuna. "If I hadn't altered the course of the spell, you would've been incinerated." Kagami's eyes widened almost comically and he felt like a jerk. He glanced at Shizuna. "Is she going to be okay?"

"She'll be fine," Shizuna said, then turned to Kagami again. "I want you to go back to your room and get some sleep. And please, Mochizuki-san, please don't do this again. You could find someone who won't hold back next time."

Kagami, feeling like a total failure, lowered her head and nodded. When she had gathered her things and gone out into the hall where Seruhiko waited to escort her back to her room, Shizuna turned to Max. "You had something to say to me?"

Max nodded. "She's only been learning for a month and she can already cast Sagitta Magica. And knowing Misa like I do, Mochizuki probably had to figure out a lot of it for herself. I'm sure Misa had good intentions, but…she's not really teacher material."

Shizuna nodded. "I see where you are going with this. Mochizuki-san is a quick learner, but needs proper training in order to protect herself. I somehow don't believe she will stop doing this simply because we told her to."

"So, do you want to talk to her tomorrow, or me? Then again, we could always get Negi to do it."

Shizuna made a thoughtful expression. "True." There was quite a large support system among the Mahora mages, and Negi's former students made up a very large percentage of the active mages on campus. He would most likely make the best teacher for the girl's talents, too.

"I think we should get Taro and Whiskey in on it too," Max said. "Possum, I mean," he corrected himself upon seeing Shizuna's annoyed frown. Apparently alcohol-based nicknames were the point at which she drew a line.

"Yes, I suppose you are right." Damn it. "I will speak with the headmaster about this in the morning. Did anyone apprehend the suspect?" she asked.

"No, it was just the headmaster out for a late night stroll," Max replied.

Shizuna heaved a long-suffering sigh and barely managed to avoid rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, my reaction exactly," Max said lightly as he opened the door. "Let me know what you two decide. Preferably before P.E."

* * *

Kagami sluggishly changed into her P.E. uniform the next day, dreading the upcoming class with Scary Max-sensei. And, for the first time, she felt that that nickname fit him perfectly. Normally, to her, he was just Sort-Of-Mildly-Alarming Max-sensei, but that was before she had attracted his wrath. That fire last night…she shuddered.

"Come on, Kagami-chan," Endo Haru said, pulling on Kagami's arm and startling her back to reality. "We'll be late if you keep staring into space like that."

"Okay. I'm coming, Haru," Kagami said, trying her best to keep her voice from getting shaky.

* * *

Today, Max-sensei had them playing softball, a game Kagami enjoyed immensely even if she wasn't good at much other than hitting the ball. Speaking of which…

The sound of the bat hitting the ball echoed across the field, and Kagami took off running for first. The ball was still in the air, so she kept going to second, and on to third. Her classmate Possum had the ball out in left field, but Haru was motioning frantically for her to run home, so she kept going. She arrived at home plate half a second after the ball.

"Out!"

"Hey, Mochizuki! Come here a minute," Max-sensei called out as the teams prepared to switch places.

Kagami steeled her nerves and approached the P.E. teacher. She tried to appear casually uninterested in what he had to say, but it came across more as 'totally freaked out and possibly constipated' instead. "Yes, sensei?"

"Stay here a minute," he said as the outfielders came in. "Hey Taro! Whiskey! You two come here a minute! Everybody else, keep playing." He ignored the protests that he had just taken the team's two best players and waited silently for the two students to cross the field.

When Taro and Possum joined Kagami, the teacher motioned for all three to follow him. "Maki, stay here and make sure they don't cause any trouble," he said to the assistant P.E. teacher. Makie-sensei nodded excitedly and winked at Kagami.

Kagami, for her part, just gave the assistant teacher a confused look and hesitantly followed the others.

"Have fun~!" Makie called after them.

* * *

"So…" Max said as he turned to face the three girls in the small office in the New Gym. "I understand the three of you are involved in something you shouldn't be." Taro and Kagami's eyes widened, while Possum's narrowed.

"And what would that be?" Possum asked. She hadn't done anything recently to cause any trouble, not that she could recall. Maybe someone had set her up...?

Max plopped down in a chair, which groaned under his weight. It had been made for the average Japanese person, not a 6'6" strongly built American. "Magic," he said simply.

Kagami was trying to appear careless again, he noted. Taro just blinked, clueless yet interested, and Whiskey looked confused.

"…magic, sensei?" Possum asked. "Is this a joke?"

Max raised an eyebrow and gave the girl a level look. "Do I look like someone who jokes a lot, Whiskey? Give it up. We know.'

"I seriously don't know what you're talking about!"

"Ah…sensei? It's true," Taro said, raising her hand hesitantly. "She doesn't know about it. Didn't know about it, I mean."

Max slumped in his chair. "F-crap. Excuse my language. Well, she knows now. Kagami, tell her what you know about magic."

Kagami squirmed as her two classmates and P.E. teacher focused their attention on her.

"Well, people use magic power in the environment or contained inside themselves to do spells, which are usually channeled through a wand. Magic is usually divided up into elements, and each mage-those are the people who use magic-focuses on one or two elements that they choose."

"…fairly accurate," Max said after a moment. "There is a lot more to it than that, but it'll do for now."

Kagami looked down at her shoes.

"Is it something like hoodoo?" Possum asked after a moment. While her great grandmother had usually refused to talk about it, her grandmother had always spoken of magic as nothing but trickery, people passing it off as something it was not. Honestly, she had never really seen the difference; but then again, she had never had anyone to ask before, or even seen a real mage in action. And it looked like her grandmother was wrong; this whole magic thing was obviously a lot more structured than that…

"Er…I don't know," Kagami said.

"Sort of," Max said, stepping in before they could start getting confused. "Hoodoo and voodoo are a little different, and a lot of their stuff is done by curses or asking the spirits for help. You know, things like that. I understand it's pretty dangerous if you don't know what you're doing."

"Oh, I know all about how to curse people. It's not really voodoo or anything, but my sister-"

"Whoa, stop right there, Whiskey," Max said sharply, suddenly looking a little worried. It was an odd expression on his face, and all three girls started to fidget. If something could make Scary Max-sensei worried, it must be pretty bad… "That sort of thing is strictly prohibited. If you had said that in front of the headmaster or Shizuna or someone else in a position of responsibility-"

"The headmaster's a mage? …_Shizuna-sensei_?" Taro practically shouted.

"Like I was saying," Max continued, giving a stern look to Taro. "If you had said that in front of Shizuna or the headmaster or someone like that, you could get in huge trouble. Mages don't like that sort of thing, and they're obligated to report things like that immediately. From what I hear, the punishment for failing to do so's pretty harsh."

"Why?" Possum asked. After that mess back home she knew the Burial Agency didn't like it, but…mages in general? And she hadn't even known they actually existed that way...!

"Because it's too easily abused," the teacher said. Silence descended heavily over the room, the only sound being the ticking of the clock as the three girls mulled that statement over.

"So…what now?" Possum asked.

"Well, the three of you are now part of our dangerous world whether you like it or not," Max stated. "As such, it's best that you learn early how to defend yourselves. The three of you will meet with Negi today after school for your first lesson." He raised his hand at the instant outcry about clubs and previous plans. "Blow off your clubs and cancel your plans; this is more important. If you need a note or something, just tell them to ask me about it," he said, fixing each girl in place with a hard stare.

"But I've already had lessons," Kagami protested feebly.

"Misa has good intentions, but she's not exactly a great teacher," Max said. Kagami fell silent. "And I know all about Asuna teaching you to fight, Urashima. She told me weeks ago. You _will_ show up on time, or I'll find you myself, understand? Consider this part of your punishment for that stunt you pulled in Kyoto."

Taro quickly cut off the protest that was forming. She remembered clearly just how easily Max-sensei had caught her punches back in Kyoto. She wouldn't stand a chance. She had sorta hoped he had forgotten about the whole thing, but...

"That goes for all of you," Max said. "Anyone have any questions?"

There was no time to respond, because the door flew open and another student, Kondo Kai, rushed into the room. "Sensei! You've gotta come, quick!"

Max was up and out of the office in the space of two seconds, leaving Taro, Possum, and Kagami standing in the empty room, stunned and confused at the sudden change from lecture to intense movement.

* * *

"What happened?" Max asked as he ran alongside the blonde girl, whose long legs and oni heritage allowed her to keep up effortlessly.

"Some man came up and started yelling at Makie-sensei and Kara, and when Iincho spoke to him, he pushed her! Makie-sensei is trying to get him to go away now," Kai explained between breaths as she ran.

Max's face went still and an startlingly cold expression settled into place.

* * *

"What's wrong with you?" the man shouted, his voice slurring slightly. The bandage on his forehead was days old and soaked with dried blood, and his clothes were rumpled and dirty, as if he had been sleeping in them for several days. He reeked of alcohol. "I've had enough of this, you're coming home with me, and that's final!" he said as he grabbed Makie's arm. Several of the students started to close in, and he looked around warily.

"I'm not going anywhere with you, Kazu," Makie said, glaring at him as she set her feet to offset his drunken tugging.

"Let her go," Hayashi Fujiko, the Judo Club member, said warningly. Others nodded or stepped up to stand beside her.

"Stand down, everyone," came a new voice as Max made his way onto the softball field. He walked sure and swift straight toward Kazu, who let go of Makie's arm and backed up a few steps before he caught himself and sneered.

Max realized other students were coming to see what the commotion was about; he recognized uniforms from the lower schools and some from St. Ursula. He spotted a tired-looking Reiko an instant later. "Reiko, keep the younger students away," he commanded. And, miracle of miracles, the girl nodded and set about her task without argument. He looked around to make sure his own students had backed off, then turned to face the stranger. "Now, who are you?"

Kazu straightened up and puffed his chest out.

'Just like a toad,' Max thought.

"My name is Nomura Kazuya, heir and soon to be boardmember of the Nomura Corporation. It is a pleasure to meet you," he said as he held out his hand and smiled, looking at the big man before him with cold, dead eyes, his hand swaying slightly in his drunkenness.

Max looked down at the man's hand and back up to his face, but otherwise remained still. "And what business do you have in Mahora?" Kazu had changed a lot in the last two years. Granted, Max had only seen him once, but…it looked like he had been living a wild life and hitting the bottle more than he should have been since then.

Kazu frowned as he withdrew his hand. This big, rude foreigner bothered him. He had never known how to deal with people who were taller than he was; meeting one was so unusual, it always threw him off balance. "I don't see why I should tell you," he said.

"Sensei," Kara suddenly said. "This man tried to harass me at the band tournament on Sunday."

"Kazu!" Makie shouted, horrified and disgusted. "She's only a middle schooler!"

"Well how was I supposed to know that, the way she was all dressed up like a whore?"

Two things happened in the next instant. Makie's hand shot out and slapped Kazu across the face, and Max snagged Kara around the waist as she leaped at Kazu, screaming wildly.

"I'll kill him! I'll kill him!" the girl screamed as she struggled in Max's grip. Apparently, Kazu had struck a nerve.

Kazu, for his part, was shocked that Makie had actually slapped him, and slowly turned to look at her, fire in his eyes as an unthinking rage welled up inside. She had slapped him…! She had actually had the nerve to…! He'd show her how he responded to _that_ sort of thing.

"Makie…!" Max said loudly.

The sound of Kazu's answering back-hand slap silenced everyone; they clearly heard the sound of their assistant P.E. teacher hitting the ground with a feminine little grunt.

Kara let out a pained squeak and Max quickly loosened his hold on the angry young girl; he had unconsciously tightened his grip when Kazu's hand connected with Makie's face. If he hadn't been preoccupied with keeping Kara away from the guy, he would have beaten him down himself.

Kazu drunkenly stepped in and kicked some dirt at Makie, a superior smirk on his face. He glanced up after a moment when the buzzing in his head cleared up enough to allow him to recall that he had had an audience. He met a wall of glares.

"He hit Makie-sensei…" someone said.

Kazu backed up a step and bumped into someone. He turned to see who it was, and was met with the single iciest stare he had ever seen in anyone, much less a middle school student. The girl started moving back and forth oddly, then took a quick step back with her left foot as she started to turn and her arms swung around-

"Nakamura!" Max's sharp voice cut through the tension and stopped the girl cold. He sighed. There was _another_ one he'd have to have a talk with. He hadn't expected the class rep to have that sort of skill, but…there were more important things to deal with right now. Luckily Kara had finally stopped struggling, though now she was just glaring at Kazu, opening and closing her hands and probably imagining them around his throat.

"It's okay, Max-sensei," Makie said as she pushed herself up. The side of her face ached and would probably be a black and blue mess by the end of the day, but…she was through with Kazu. He had never actually hit her before... This was it, this was the end. She realized that the coppery taste in her mouth was probably her own blood, and frowned. She had never tasted it before. Stupid Kazu had better hope he hadn't messed up her teeth...! "I won't go anywhere with you, not ever again," she said quietly.

Kazu shot her a deathglare, but stopped short of hitting her again as he realized the students were ready to mob him.

"We're through Kazu!" Makie said as she met his eyes and sent him her best deathglare in return. "I don't ever want to see you again!"

"How dare you-"

"How dare _you_! Coming here, involving my cute students in this! What's wrong with you? There is a time and a place, and this is _not it_!"

Kazu seethed. How could she embarrass him like this? She was going to be his _wife_!

"I'm calling my mother and letting her know the engagement is off for _real_. After that, I'll call your mother and tell her just the sort of person her son-" Makie stopped mid sentence as her years of gymnastic training allowed her to nimbly dodge Kazu's wild punch, and followed it up with a straight jab to the nose that knocked him down with a startled cry more of surprise than pain.

Max grunted in amusement, and one by one the students picked it up, pointing and laughing at Kazu as he sat there in his shirt, slacks, and tie in the dirt with his hand covering his bleeding nose.

"Nakamura, call the police. I think we've found the guy who's been prowling around the last few days," Max said, finally releasing Kara; the girl stood stiffly beside him.

"Yes, sensei," Sachiko said, grinning slightly as she took out her cell phone and moved away through the crowd.

Kazu scrambled to his feet and turned to run, only to find a wall of students blocking his path. He whirled around, looking for another way out, but there were girls all around him and nowhere to run. He raised his fist hesitantly.

"Do you really want to do that?" Max asked, idly squeezing his own fist.

"You can't do this…!"

"Can't do what? All I see here is a lot of middle school girls defending themselves from a prowler who attacked their teacher and tried to molest one of them. I wonder what that would look like on your resume?" Max said curiously.

Kazu's eyes widened. "N-no! Look, here! I'll give you money!" he said, holding out his wallet.

"Bribery; I wonder…is that a crime too?"

"You people are insane!" he screamed as he looked around wildly for a way out.

The sound of police sirens could be heard in the distance, and the students started to relax.

Kazu, on the other hand, freaked out and shoved his way into the crowd, finally bursting out through the other side where he came face to face with the class rep, who calmly flipped her cell phone shut. He only saw her back up oddly, and then she spun around quick as lightning and he saw nothing but a brief flash of blue and white before the bottom of her shoe pulped his already bloody nose and lights exploded in his head. He hit the ground hard, screaming incoherently as he clutched at his face.

"I am sorry, sensei. He came toward me and I feared for my personal safety," Sachiko said as Max walked up, giving her a look.

"I understand," Max said. Yes, he would definitely need to talk to her. He watched as several students led the police to the struggling man on the ground.

* * *

When things had finally settled down and the most of the students were gone, Reiko approached Max. "Max-sensei?"

"Yeah?" he asked, turning to the girl. 'Sensei, huh? She must not be feeling good...'

Reiko hesitated for a moment, trying to decide how much she should reveal. "That man…I found evidence he had been prowling around, but…I don't think he was the only one." She explained about the footprints and other things she had seen and felt in the places where the students had reported seeing a suspicious man.

"So there's another one…great," Max said, rolling his eyes and squeezing the bridge of his nose. "I hate this sort of thing. I wish whoever it is would just show up and announce himself so I could beat him unconscious."

Reiko nodded in agreement. That would certainly make things simple. "I think it may not be that easy, though…this other person seems to have something to do with the supernatural. I don't know what yet, but he kind of reminds me of Eva-chan, back when she was still cursed."

When Reiko was gone and the students were heading back to the school, Max stopped Kagami as she walked by. "Hey, bring the class rep with you when you show up this afternoon, okay? We need to talk to her, too."

* * *

_**Author's Notes**: Yeah, Kazuya's an idiot, but he's based on a guy I used to know in real life. There's not much of a difference, really._

* * *

Hayashi Fujiko - Student Number 9

Born - 11/15/1994

Height - 5'2"

Judo Club

Likes: Training, Protecting the weak, justice

Dislikes: Bullies, studying

Roommate: Karakuri Chachamaru, who is almost always not there.

Little Known Facts: Compensates for a bad family life by protecting anyone who needs it.

* * *

Sasaki Makie - Dazzling Gymnast Assistant P.E. Teacher

Born - 3/7/1989

Height - 5'1"

Likes: White Zinfandel, peaceful family life

Dislikes: Bullies, mean people

Little Known Facts: She isn't stupid, just absent minded.

* * *

Yotsuba Satsuki - Famous Chef Girl

Born - 5/12/1988

Height - 5'3"

Likes: Cooking, making people happy

Dislike: wasted food

Little Known Facts: Started her own food stall immediately after graduation, and now owns a fair-sized chain of mobile restaurants. She is currently worth around $20 million and the popularity of her business is soaring.

* * *

Hakase Satomi - Awesome Mad Scientist

Born - 7/14/1988

Height - 5'

Likes: Tech, inventions, math, blowing people's minds

Dislikes: People who look at her like she's crazy

Little Known Facts: She has successfully divided by zero and simultaneously avoided wiping out reality as we know it.


	19. Ch 17 At the Resort

**Still Waters 3, Chapter 16, At the Resort**

* * *

"So, what do you think?" Max asked Negi as the two of them watched the four exhausted girls stumble off the practice field after their first day of training in Eva's resort. Well...to be honest it was less training and more seeing where their strengths and weaknesses lay. The results thus far had actually been quite surprising; from Taro's excellent close combat skill and Possum's natural inventiveness to Sachiko's confusing combat style and Kagami's surprising gift for attack magic, the four girls were already far ahead of where many of their predecessors had begun. It was both amazing and somewhat worrying at the same time, Max decided. The frown Negi had worn since the girls' arrival deepened and he knew the younger teacher felt the same way.

"I don't like it, but they are all quite good, and they have already been involved for far too long for memory erasing magic to work anymore..." he said helplessly. Kagami glanced up from across the field and saw him watching, then looked back down quickly, trying to hide her face. Negi groaned and squeezed the bridge of his nose. "Oh no..." He knew what _that_ little embarrassed gesture meant; heaven knew he had seen more girls with crushes on their teacher than any young man should at his age.

"Huh...Mochizuki's caught it now too, hasn't she?" Max said idly as he watched the group of girls enter the building that housed the living quarters. "Two more and I'll win the betting pool."

Negi rolled his eyes and began rubbing his forehead. He felt a headache coming on.

* * *

"Ah, hello," Nakamura Sachiko, the class rep, said as she took her seat at the outdoor table early the next day. The other three seated around the table gave her measuring looks.

"You are taking this whole 'magic is real' thing awfully well," Asuna said, cocking an eyebrow as she gave the girl a suspicious look.

"Well…there's no question, right?" Sachiko said as she glanced around the resort. "Also, I saw some things in Kyoto that left little doubt in my mind. It's not exactly what I envisioned, but…I just didn't realize it was so organized."

Negi and Asuna looked at each other.

"What happened in Kyoto?" Negi asked. He had a bad, bad feeling about this...

Sachiko set her cup down carefully. "During our free time on the last day of the class trip, Abe-san and Yamamoto-san were both kidnapped, and Kondo-san asked me for help. I…I think the man I defeated was a fox man. He might have been a youkai…are youkai real as well?" she asked.

Negi started to nod, then froze. She had defeated an _adult youkai_ in hand to hand combat? His eyes widened as he began to comprehend the implications of that fact and looked up sharply at the girl he had previously thought of only as his class representative. Sure she was good, he knew that himself after watching her testing the day before, but she hadn't seemed to be at such a high level...

"So, Kondo knows, too. Looks like half your class already knows, Negi," Max said, breaking the young teacher's train of thought as he spoke up for the first time since Sachiko had joined them at the table.

Negi sighed and squeezed the bridge of his nose as he tried to process what he had learned in the past few moments. One of the most unlikely students had proved to be this powerful...what else had he missed because of his bloated sense of self-importance? Had he gone on like this for the past six years, gradually falling into the trap of focusing only on getting stronger while those around him changed their own lives for his sake?

"Hey Negi, are you okay? You don't look so good..." Asuna said suddenly.

Negi snapped out of it with a jolt and realized he had halted his teacup halfway between the table and his mouth. He quickly set it down and focused again on his class representative. Had she always blushed when their eyes met...? "Go on, Nakamura-san." 'What sort of horrible person am I...?'

Sachiko focused on the tea cup she held with both hands on the table. "Other than the fox man, there were two others that were probably cat people. Sato-san scared the cat man away-"

"Wait a second, Sato? Just who all was there with you?" Max asked sharply, taking over the questioning from Negi, who seemed to be undergoing some sort of existential crisis at the moment. The young teacher was staring into his teacup again and didn't even seem to notice.

"Kondo-san, Yamamoto-san, and Abe-san as you already know. In addition to those three, Sato Gin and Mako Sylvester were also present."

"And the list grows," Asuna said, leaning back in her chair and balancing it on two legs. She glanced over at Negi and frowned. "Negi. Hey, Negi."

He jumped and looked quickly up at Asuna, then to Sachiko.

"Do they already know about magic?" Max asked Sachiko as he gave Negi a serious look. Negi rubbed his forehead again and took a sip of now-cold tea.

Sachiko was concerned about the odd interplay between the two teachers and the strange woman, but managed to cover her unease by pretending to be lost in thought for a moment, a trick she had perfected years ago. When she felt she could trust her voice, she continued. "Yes. Sato-san at least seemed an accomplished…mage? Magician?"

"Mage," Max said.

Sachiko nodded. "Yes, mage. And the fox man called Kondo-san an oni."

Asuna grunted at the mention of oni.

"What about the other two? Abe and Yamamoto?" Max asked, turning his attention fully to the young girl.

Sachiko shrank back in her seat under the big teacher's attention, but held out gamely. She knew he didn't mean to be so intimidating, but that little fact didn't help in the least to relieve the sense of pressure one felt when he focused his attention. "A-Abe-san's kidnapping seemed to be an effort to cause trouble for what they called the 'Abe Clan', probably the group that runs the Seimei Shrine in Kyoto. I think Yamamoto-san was kidnapped because she followed Abe-san."

A heavy silence descended over the the table after this. Sachiko started to fidget.

"Ah…I've had enough talk, I wanna spar," Asuna said suddenly, clomping her chair back down. "What is that fighting style you use, Sachi-san? Capoeira? Where did you learn it?"

"Yes, it is a specialized form of capoeira with more emphasis on the fighting elements," Sachiko said hesitantly, nevertheless thankful for the change in topic. "A friend of my grandfather taught me. He said I wasn't supposed to talk about it…"

Asuna nodded. "Fair enough. Come on, let's see what you've got!" she exclaimed as she dragged the young class rep away from the table.

Max and Negi watched the two of them go for a moment before Max spoke."What was that all about?" he asked bluntly, eying the other teacher.

Negi frowned and shook his head. "I...I don't know. I feel almost as if something is interfering with my thoughts..." he said. He shook his head. "Forget about it."

Max gave him a look, but dropped such a heavy subject for one a little lighter. "So, what do you say, Negi? Just tell the lot of 'em now and save yourself the wasted time? They'll probably all find out before summer break anyway," he said in a jocular tone, grinning his ugly grin. It was no secret that virtually all of Negi's students ended up practicing magic or martial arts of some sort before they moved on from his class.

"I really wish they wouldn't," the young teacher complained.

Max stood up from his chair and stretched, and Negi was once again struck by just how _big_ the man was. He had grown used to the peculiarities of Japan during his time in the country, and it was easy to forget that even though he himself was considered very tall by Japanese standards, there were many others who easily dwarfed him.

"More allies in the long run," Max said over his shoulder as he strolled away in the direction Asuna and Sachiko had gone.

Negi found himself agreeing, and hated himself for it.

* * *

"Oooh, she almost got Asuna that time," Konoka said as she watched Sachiko facing off against Asuna. The younger girl had spun around to avoid a strike and somehow ended up in a quick handstand, from which she had almost landed some sort of spinning kick to Asuna's chin. It was the closest she had gotten throughout the whole fight, but it was still an amazing feat for someone facing Asuna for the first time, even though Asuna was clearly just playing with her.

Setsuna nodded. "She is very good for someone her age…I wish I could have met her teacher."

"She shouldn't go upside down like that though, everyone can see her underwear," the Konoe heir whispered conspiratorially into her companion's ear, causing Setsuna to shiver and turn red. "Ah~ You're so cute when you're embarrassed, Secchan!"

They watched the match go on for a few more minutes. Then, just as Sachiko barely avoided a leg sweep, Asuna landed a fist to her gut that made Sachiko double over with a breathless attempt at a startled shout.

"Oooh," Konoka said in commiseration as Sachiko fell to her knees, both hands clutching her middle. "That must've hurt," she added as Asuna knelt down by the girl, who remained on the ground looking as if she might fall over. "Looks like they need my help~!"

* * *

"Welcome, Yukihiro Ayaka-san," one of Chachamaru's sisters said in greeting as Ayaka entered the resort later in the afternoon.

"Thank you. Have you seen Asuna-san?" she asked.

"Kagurazaka Asuna is currently in the living quarters with the new students."

"Thank you for your assistance," she said politely. She knew it was only a robot, but…she couldn't help showing even the robots and puppets in Eva's resort these little courtesies.

The robot bowed, and Ayaka excused herself and headed for the living quarters.

* * *

"Don't worry about it, Taro-kun!" Asuna said, laughing heartily as she smacked the girl on the back. "You've never run into someone like Sachi-san before, it's no wonder you lost."

Taro pouted. "Yeah, I know. But still…" She sighed miserably. What a humiliation! "But she's the _class rep_! They're supposed to be all stiff and…and bossy. They aren't supposed to be fighters!"

"Oh? Is that so?" Ayaka asked as she entered the courtyard.

"Oh, hey Iincho, what's up?" Asuna asked brightly. "Taro-kun, this is Yukihiro Ayaka, a former class rep," she said, grinning at Taro's sudden discomfort. "Iincho, this is Urashima Taro, one of Negi's students."

"T…Taro-san?" Ayaka asked hesitantly, then shook it off. What had the girl's parents been thinking? Taro was no name for a girl! "It is nice to meet you, Taro-san."

Taro didn't know how to respond, so she bowed her head. "Nice to meetya," she said quickly. This Ayaka…she was dazzling.

"You should meet Sachi-san, Iincho," Asuna said when the introductions were over and Ayaka was seated. "She's the class rep of Negi's current class."

Ayaka made a noncommittal noise and helped herself to the tea one of Chachamaru's sisters brought out. "It's nice," she said after a moment.

"Hm?" Asuna asked, looking over at her longtime friend and rival.

"All of us, coming back here now to help Negi-sensei," Ayaka said, looking at the cup she held. It was the same one she had used here in Eva's resort since she first found out about magic…she hadn't been here in two years, but they still had her cup. It was just too much... "I'm glad," she said after a moment.

Taro, being a clever sort, left.

"It's okay, Iincho. Satsuki will be here tonight, she's the last one missing from our old class that can make it. Why don't we have a party?"

The corner of Ayaka's mouth twitched upward. Their old classmate Yotsuba Satsuki always cheered everyone up, it was just something she did without even trying. "Resort time or real time?"

"Real time," Asuna said.

"So we have a couple more days, don't we?" Ayaka said thoughtfully. "Want to have a spar, for old time's sake?"

Asuna grinned wide. "Sure thing, shotacon~"

"Wha…! Look who's talking, ojicon!"

"Ha! Now that's the Iincho I remember!" Asuna said as she stood up and gave the other woman a challenging look. "Come on, I think the sparring circle in the forest section should be free. That was your favorite, right? Or are you scared of a little fight?"

Ayaka gave her a look, but her irritation quickly drained away. It seemed she just couldn't stay angry at Asuna anymore... She returned her cup to the table and stood up. "…fine. Let's go."

* * *

"Hey, Taro. I thought you would be talking with that Asuna for a while," Possum said when she ran into Taro as she wandered through the halls.

"Nah, the old class rep showed up and their conversation sounded private, so I left," Taro said, sticking her hands into the pockets of her jeans as she walked.

"I see."

They walked in silence for a while. "So what do you think?" Possum asked as they passed an elaborate statue of a man with a sword.

"About what?"

"All of this," Possum said, waving her hands to indicate everything. "Magic, flying on broomsticks, casting spells, magic wands…you name it."

Taro grinned wide. "I think it's really cool."

"Yeah." They walked without speaking for a moment, just taking in their surroundings. The main building seemed to be some old castle, but was unlike anything Possum had ever seen in any book or TV show. Everything was so _clean_ for one thing; for another, everything was elaborately decorated in a strange style she didn't recognize at all.

"So, where did this place come from, anyway?" Taro asked as they neared an intersection of walkways. She could see someone walking on the intersecting path ahead.

Possum shrugged. "No clue. But I saw Eva walking around a minute ago. Can you believe that? _She's_ one of 'em too."

"Hey now, she's more than one 'one of them'," Max said, pausing in the middle of the intersection and glancing over at them. "She made this place."

Taro and Possum were stunned at the idea.

"_Eva_? But she can't be more than ten years old!" Taro said.

Max cracked a grin. It was ugly, but it was a grin. "Try five hundred. She's what they call a 'High Daylight Walker', a vampire."

"You know, that explains so much," Possum said after a moment of thought. Taro just opened and closed her mouth like a fish as she tried to wrap her mind around such an unbelievable thing.

"You guys going to the library?" Max asked after an awkward moment.

The two girls glanced at each other and shrugged. "Sure."

Max nodded and took the lead.

"Uh, hey, sensei…I've got a question," Taro said after a moment.

Max glanced back at her as he continued along the walkway. "Shoot."

"Aren't we going to get in trouble? I mean, we've been here for what, four days now? What about school?"

Max raised an eyebrow as he glanced back at her again. "Urashima Taro, the infamous 'Street Sweeper', is worried about missing a few days of school?"

Taro bit her tongue on the snappy comeback she almost blurted out, and looked away.

"Don't worry about it," Max said when he realized how his comment must have sounded to the girl. "One day in here is only an hour or so out there. Don't give me that look, I know what I'm talking about here," he said, glaring at Taro when she gave him a disbelieving look. "You know the two big clocks in the living quarters? Ever wonder why they show so much information, and why one of them is so much slower than the other?" he asked.

Taro shut her mouth again as she realized that he was telling the truth. "Then…that could be useful. In a lot of ways," she said thoughtfully.

* * *

Late that evening, while everyone else was partying in Eva's resort, Reiko stood in the middle of an empty field on the campus, looking up at the moon. "It's pretty, isn't it? Even though it's not even half full," she said, almost to herself.

"Yes, I look at it when I get lonely too," Aisaka Sayo said, floating nearby.

"I'm not lonely. I don't think I can even _get_ lonely anymore," Reiko replied as she shifted her sword case to a more comfortable position. She shivered, and sighed.

"Reiko-san…"

Reiko continued watching the night sky in silence, accompanied by the friendly ghost. After a moment she sighed irritably and turned to face a nearby clump of trees. "I know you're there. If you have something to say, come out and say it. Otherwise, quit watching me and let me relax."

Sayo looked around, confused, until the sound of slow clapping suddenly filled the air and a tall, thin man stepped out of the shadows cast by the trees.

"Nicely done. Not many would have noticed my presence, much less pinpointed my location…most impressive," the man said in a surprisingly deep and smooth voice as he stepped fully out into the moonlight.

Reiko's expression tightened as she looked at him and recalled the words of the girl that claimed to have seen a ghost. _Almost as tall as Scary Max-sensei back in the middle school, but not as big…he was pretty skinny._ Tall and thin with dark eyes and pale skin, topped with nicely combed black hair. All of that and a stench of death only a powerful medium could identify. "How did you get in here? The barriers should have kept your kind away," she said as she tried to recall whether she had anything useful in her pockets. Empty spirit bottle, pencil, keys, eraser, big metal button, brooch...brooch. She slipped her hand into her pocket.

The man grinned, showing the points of his canines for just an instant. "For a man of my master's particular skills, such a barrier is nothing." He started walking toward her.

"Hold it right there," Reiko said, grabbing something in her pocket. Keeping her eyes on the thin man, she spoke quietly to Sayo. "Get out of here, go tell Shizuna-sensei or Takahata-sensei. Tell them to bring a lot of help, I think this man's a ghoul."

Sayo shuddered and took off as fast as she could go. Ghouls…you didn't waste time messing around with a ghoul. Some people said they were flesh eaters, slow and stupid like zombies in old movies. But a _real_ ghoul, one created by a powerful vampire using the proper rituals and techniques as this one appeared to be, was fast and intelligent, perfectly capable of speech, and had superior physical abilities, along with no problem in using its abilities to their fullest extent in the pursuit of its master's goals. All ghouls spread disease to those they touched, however, and were capable of turning other people into ghouls as well, albeit ghouls of the traditional zombie sort. The creation of a ghoul was illegal and had been for hundreds of years.

Now with Sayo-chan gone, Reiko turned her full attention to the man, who had stopped a mere ten paces away, entirely too close, just smiling at her with his hands shoved casually into the pockets of his sloppy black suit. His suit coat was mostly open and the top three or four buttons of his shirt were undone, revealing pale, bloodless flesh beneath. And, more than that, she spotted the butt of an antique flintlock pistol poking out from under the edge of his coat.

"Oh, does this worry you?" he asked, smoothly pulling the pistol out and waving it around. It did indeed seem to be an antique; she knew Negi owned a similar pistol. "I'm sure it won't be something you'll have a problem dealing with," he said, pointing the pistol at Reiko and pulling the trigger.

Reiko was two steps ahead of him of him, however; she had already yanked a smooth, round stone in a tin setting out of her pocket and held it out before her even as he was aiming the pistol. "Barnabas! I call on you to protect me!" A large translucent blue circle roughly nine feet in diameter appeared just in time to deflect the enchanted bullet.

"See?" the man said, firing again and again. Reiko wondered briefly how it was that he could fire a single shot pistol like that so many times without reloading, but shrugged it off. The thing probably had some major enchantments put on it if this man's master was powerful and skilled enough to create a hole in the barriers without anyone noticing. "Like I said, it's a nice toy, but useless against you," he said, firing one last shot to prove his point. Had it not been stopped by the barrier, the round would have drilled her between the eyes.

Reiko kept the shield up as the man stuffed the pistol back into his waistband. "Who is your master?" she demanded, silently congratulating herself on not letting her voice crack with the terror coursing through her whole body at the prospect of facing this ghoul alone.

"Oh, he's someone you've never met, I suppose. And you never will, not after tonight," he replied as he moved to attack.

Reiko was forced to drop the shield as she shrugged off the sword case and plucked her wooden sword covered in paper talismans from it in one smooth, practiced motion, finishing up by tossing the case at the approaching ghoul's legs.

He dodged it, laughing gleefully. "This will be fun!"

Reiko launched herself at him, trusting in her years of practice to ward off the man's odd, jabbing strikes with his hands. Talisman-reinforced wooden sword met stiff, bladelike jab again and again as the two fought.

It was all Reiko could do to defend herself; there was no question of trying to attack. She was physically weak even for the average, non-athletic girl, only able to do as much as she had up to this point due to her expert manipulation of ki reinforcement. All she could do was try to hold him off until Takahata or someone else strong came to help. A hard jab almost shook the sword from her hands and another immediately after knocked her off balance. He slipped to the side, she tried to follow, and her foot slipped on wet grass. Her sword wavered and he was just too fast for her to get it back into position.

"Hehehehehe!" the ghoul cackled as his fingertips dug into the soft tissue just under Reiko's arm, skidded along her ribs, and ripped out through her back, spraying blood everywhere. Reiko screamed and her wooden sword went flying. He gave her a hard shove and she fell to the ground, screaming in agony as the ghoul's infection raced like wildfire through her body.

"Come on, stand up," he said as he dragged her to her feet. She struggled feebly, but the ghoul's infection was already sapping what little strength she had left; she was all but helpless in his hands.

With one arm rendered useless by torn muscles and her mind going hazy from the pain and loss of blood, Reiko could only think of one thing as the ghoul grinned at her, showing perfectly white teeth. She leaned away as he moved his face close and took a sniff or two. _Tetsuo_. Tetsuo had been an angry, violent ghost she had been forced to seal away. He had been strong, incredibly strong. Before he had died a couple centuries ago, he had been recorded as lifting a horse from the ground with his own strength, choking an oni to death with his bare hands, and other similar feats of strength, and death had only increased his power. She had been forced to exorcise his ghost and seal him away in the nearest convenient object; in this case, it had been one of those big pink erasers you used in school. In theory, he could lend her his strength in the same way the friendly British ghost Barnabas could create a shield for her, but…ghosts were unpredictable, and she had been warned against this very thing several times by the headmaster himself. She reached into her pocket and closed her fingers around a big pink eraser. She hadn't understood why she felt the need to bring it with her this morning, but…it was just one of those things, she supposed. The sort of whim that saves lives so often even though it's almost never noticed. Decide to walk instead of drive and avoid the fiery ten car pileup that would only have happened had you been there to add the final variable to the equation; decide to stick a pen in your pocket in the morning for no real reason, avoiding the falling stack of copy paper boxes that would have pushed you through the tenth-story window had you gone in search of a pen later in the day. It happened all the time, and no one ever noticed. Except she knew now, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that putting that eraser in addition to her usual array of tools in her pocket this morning would at least give her a chance of survival in this fight.

Reiko blinked the blurriness in her eyes away and tried to focus on the ghoul. Gray was creeping in around the edges of her vision, and she could feel herself weakening. If she was going to do something, it had to be now.

"You smell delicious~" the ghoul said as he opened his mouth and darted his head forward to tear out her jugular.

"Tetsuo!" Reiko bellowed with surprising force as she reached out and grabbed the ghoul around the throat with her uninjured hand. "Lend me your strength!" Pure physical power coursed through her body and she looked the ghoul in the eyes and simply…closed her hand. Pale flesh squeezed out between her fingers and bones cracked as the ghoul's eyes bugged out and his body went limp as his mouth worked soundlessly. The sudden burst of strength disappeared just as quickly as it had come and she dropped to the ground, suddenly too weak to stand.

She was treated to several seconds of stark terror in the ghoul's eyes as he lay facing her three feet away, their eyes locked together, before the pain struck. Waves of agony racked her body as the already festering wound, held back until this point by adrenaline and Tetsuo's power, made itself known and began spreading its slow burning poison through her system again.

She screamed, agony and the spasms of her body burying her in a world of pain and little else. Horrible, soul searing screams racked the campus as she thrashed around on the ground, and it was all she could do to hang on to one tiny thread of consciousness.

And then, after an age of soul-crushing anguish, Shizuna was there, chanting a simple purification spell under her breath while Takahata knelt down and further incapacitated the ghoul.

"She's fading! We have to hurry! Get her to the headmaster, he can help her...get the...he...and..."

Voices faded in an out and finally merged into a distant drone as Reiko slipped into darkness.

* * *

_**Author's Notes**: Well, that should brighten your day, huh? Also, re-uploaded to fix a few typos.  
_

* * *

Kagurazaka Asuna - Red Headed Whirlwind

Born - 4/21/1988

Height - 5'6"

Likes: You-know-who, swordsmanship, teaching people

Dislikes: Idiots

Little Known Facts: Despite disliking idiots in general, she is one herself.

* * *

Konoe Konoka - Pretty Bloodspilling Princess

Born - 3/18/1989

Height - 5'2"

Likes: Setsuna, Daddy, protecting people

Dislikes: Stuffy old rules and laws

Little Known Facts: She once faced off with a high level demon alone and won.

* * *

Sakurazaki Setsuna - Bashful Bird of Prey

Born - 1/17/1989

Height - 5'

Likes: Konoka, swords, protecting people

Dislikes: Her wings, the bird tribe

Little Known Facts: She likes to dress up in various costumes and take pictures with Konoka.


	20. Ch 18 A Ghoul

**Still Waters 3, Chapter 18, A Ghoul**

* * *

There was a small round light set deep into the ceiling panel above her. She had a killer headache and her whole left side throbbed in time with her heartbeat, one giant mass of dull pain. She couldn't feel her arm.

"Hurry! Where is the headmaster? Is he ready?"

The voice was familiar, but for some reason sound was roaring through her ears and she could barely make out the words, much less attempt to place the voice. Her mind wouldn't work right and she could barely think.

The ceiling blurred as the gurney suddenly started moving and accelerated until it was being pushed at a run through a long hallway. Her stomach lurched unpleasantly and Reiko's head fell helplessly toward the left a bit as they went around a corner. She watched the worried woman jogging alongside the gurney for a moment before realizing she was familiar. A few seconds later, a name floated up from the hazy depths of her mind: Shizuna-sensei. The fear in the woman's eyes when she looked down and saw Reiko awake and watching her was plain. It wasn't just fear though; there was a hint of something else in that look. 'Disgust?' Reiko wondered. It was very ugly in the woman's otherwise pretty face. Surely not...

They went around another corner, her stomach felt like it rolled over, and her head flopped to the other side, hiding the teacher from her sight. She watched the wall go by for a moment wondering what was wrong about what she was seeing until she suddenly realized that there was a hazy sort of gray colored frame around her vision. She tried to blink it away, but lacked the energy even for that; the most she could manage was a pitiful twitch of her eyelids.

A new voice spoke from ahead and then someone she recognized after a moment as being called Seruhiko-sensei was walking alongside the gurney, looking down at her. After a long moment's deliberation, she decided it was somewhat amusing that his face had gone gray and tight and bloodless; she recalled that Seruhiko-sensei had never been able to stand seeing blood, and she just so happened to be covered in it. She would have laughed if she had had the strength to make the effort.

Then the gurney stopped moving and Takahata was leaning over her, saying something she couldn't make out. Her vision swam and she fell into a sea of gray as her mind shut down again.

* * *

Seruhiko exited the makeshift operating room an hour and a half later and all but collapsed against the wall beside Takahata. "I…I think I'm gonna be sick," he said, his voice quavering weakly as he covered his eyes with a shaking hand. "My God…my God…!"

"Will she make it?" Takahata asked, his voice steady as he toyed with a cigarette. He tried to erase Seruhiko's haunted look from his mind and tried to focus instead of a small spot of discoloration on one of the ceiling panels above him. It looked like water damage.

"I-I think so, I hope they weren't too late. I…I've never heard of a case of it spreading so fast…my God…"

Takahata's neutral expression turned into a frown as his traitorous mind drifted back around to what the girl was going through. Ghoulification. The process of infection by a ghoul that led to becoming one yourself if not stopped in time. A horrible way to die. Hours of horrific agony, punctuated by heavy bouts of vomiting, diarrhea, bleeding from various openings, and what the few recorded survivors described as nothing less than a maddening cold slowly creeping up from the extremities at a time when the victim was so weak from losing bodily fluids that they could hardly move. Ghouls created in this manner were invariably mindless beasts.

But the speed of it…!

"Is the ghoul contained?" Takahata asked as he focused his attention on the ceiling spot again.

For one horrible moment, Seruhiko thought he was referring to Reiko-the girl, he immediately corrected himself; if something bad happened, it would be easier to think of her as just…'the girl'-until he recalled the ghoul with the broken neck. "Yes, the team made sure he was secure while the others worked on the girl." He couldn't bear to say her name aloud. 'My God…'

They fell into an awkward silence broken only by the sound of rustling clothing as Seruhiko constantly shifted his weight. Takahata was glad the room they had set up was protected by sound-deadening magic; he was not particularly keen on hearing the deathagony of one of his allies, who also happened to be a friend and a former student. They had gone on patrol together many times; everyone had. Reiko's skills were of such a useful type that all but the newest members of the security teams had spent many a night patrolling with her. No matter what her age, they all saw her as a friend and ally, if often an irritating one. He sighed. This was the sort of thing he could never get used to. He had lost many friends over the years; you couldn't do what he had done all this time and _not_ lose a few, it was just part of the job. A part spoken of rarely, but always present in the thoughts of every man, woman, and child thrust into this sort of thing. Any day could be your last, and any day could your buddy's last; often, strangely, that second part seemed worse than the first. If you died, it meant you had screwed up; if your buddy died, it meant you had failed them.

When the headmaster finally opened the door and stepped out into the hallway, Seruhiko took one look at his exhausted form and rushed off toward the bathroom. Old man Konoe's apron 'what a thing to wear to an operation…!' Seruhiko had thought before fleeing, was covered in splotches of blood and bile and other fluids, and there were four deep scratches in his cheek. The topmost had missed his eye by a mere half inch.

Takahata took a moment to steel his resolve and prepare himself for what he was about to hear. "How did it go?" he asked.

Konoemon pulled a handkerchief from a pocket and patted the sweat from his forehead, and the blood from his cheek. It had not been easy, what he had just gone through. "She is stabilized, her wounds are closed," the headmaster said tiredly. "While healing magic proved to be of little value, we…managed to stop the infection before it got too far, but I fear she may regress at any time."

"Regress?"

"Become a ghoul. The poor girl was never strong in the first place, mediums almost never are," the headmaster said tiredly as he idly held the soiled handkerchief in one hand while wiped his other on a towel he had thrown over his shoulder a moment earlier. "But the sheer speed of the change, I have never in all my years seen such a thing. I should be most interested to speak with the ghoul when he has regenerated."

Takahata glanced at the old man again. "You're bleeding again," he said, then glanced at the door. Konoemon had left a bloody handprint on the edge of the door when he pushed it shut a moment earlier.

Konoemon let out another sigh and shook his head. "It doesn't matter," he said as he held the handkerchief up to the scratches to keep from getting blood everywhere. "You may enter, if you wish."

Takahata nodded and watched the headmaster walk away, utterly devoid of the usual spring in his step. The door opened, and two of the headmaster's assistants stepped out and followed after the headmaster, wearing almost identical stunned expressions on their faces. He steeled himself and opened the door.

Inside, the room was a mess. Small splatters of blood and other fluids were all over the place, and broken monitors and other pieces of equipment were strewn about; it looked almost as if there had been a fight. As for Reiko, she was sleeping, strapped securely to an operating table in the center of the room, with several IV lines attached. There were the usual array of machines present to monitor heart rate, blood pressure, and the rest, though he didn't recognize more than a few of the dozen machines next to her. When he finally managed to tear his gaze away from the wounded girl on the operating table, he spotted Shizuna sitting in a chair with her head in her hands and walked across the room to her.

"How is she?" he asked quietly while Shizuna clung to his hand.

"She'll probably be fine," Touko, the head of security, said suddenly. It was a testament to Takahata's state of mind that he hadn't noticed her leaning on the wall by the door when he had entered the room.

"That's good," Takahata said, looking at the woman thoughtfully. There was only one reason to have one of the best swordswomen in Japan present at a time such as this. "Negi-kun will not be pleased…we should set a heavy guard on the contained ghoul," Takahata said after a moment as he looked at the student sleeping on the table. Something about seeing the normally arrogant, loud girl lying on the table like that, her body still as death but for the almost imperceptible rise and fall of her chest, seemed so utterly _wrong_ in some fundamental way... Shizuna made a small noise and he realized he had been squeezing her hand too tightly. When Negi got back and heard about this, he would go after the ghoul that had attacked her; and, should he be allowed to do that, their only lead would be lost.

* * *

"Okay, I'm trusting you, Asuna," Negi said as he stood on the entry platform of Eva's resort alongside Max. They had been in the resort giving the four new girls a crash course on magic training for what had been, in the resort, fourteen days, but was in the real world a little more than half of a day. The girls themselves were sound asleep in the living quarters, utterly exhausted after two solid weeks of training. It had just taken a quick glance for the two teachers to decide to let the girls sleep rather than take them back to Mahora.

"Okay, I understand," Asuna said. She paused to yawn and rub her eye, the oversized t-shirt she used for pajamas all askew. It was no wonder she was tired, she had spent the whole time training hard as well; she and Max were still carrying the bruises from their latest spar session. Wooden blades, no padding. "Let 'em relax today, make 'em leave first thing tomorrow morning just in time to get to class without being late, got it. Now get out of here, I wanna go back to sleep."

Negi nodded. "Good luck, Asuna!" Max yawned and nodded at her, and the two teachers picked up their things and were off.

Asuna stood on the empty entry platform for a moment to make sure neither one needed to return right away, then turned to go back to the living quarters to get some more sleep.

* * *

Max opened the door of Eva's cabin and stepped aside. Something about the air felt a little off, but since a quick glance around showed nothing amiss, he brushed it off as unimportant. Negi stepped outside a moment later and locked the door, and they walked down the path in near-silence, just enjoying the early morning silence of the small forest and thinking of how to deal with the four new mage trainees.

When they made it to the edge of the trees, Max paused. "Hey Negi, go on ahead, I need to drop this stuff off at my apartment," he said to the younger teacher, hefting a backpack and carefully wrapped bundle that contained several of his swords.

Negi nodded. "Okay. I'll see you at school," he said as he glanced around. He paused a moment. Something seemed...wrong? It seemed almost as if he could smell something out of place in the air... He glanced back at Max to ask his opinion, but the other man had already started down the path in the other direction and had covered quite a distance, so he decided not to bother him about it and started on his way. He was probably just imagining things anyway.

* * *

'Urashima Taro would be best as backup for the front line,' Negi thought to himself as he slowly made his way to the classroom. The girl's combat sense was top notch, and if the stories he had heard about her previous fights in the city were true, then she must have possessed the sort of on-the-spot tactical genius that few could ever hope to achieve. Leading a supposed biker gang on an hours-long running fight and actually _winning_ was proof enough of that. She was, however, still green; the incident where she had been cut some weeks ago was proof enough for _that_. In a few years though... 'She should be strong enough to fight alongside Asuna,' Negi thought to himself. He smiled at that. The two were quite a bit alike in temperament, and even after such a short time spent training, their combat styles already seemed to complement each other.

"Heh!"

Negi grinned as he flipped the class roster open and clicked his pen and began writing. He paused after a moment to look at what he had written beside the girl's picture. 'Asuna Junior'...she wouldn't take it very well if she ever saw it, so he flicked the roster shut as a few early students passed him in the hallway. Now, Mochizuki Kagami...he pushed open the classroom door and flicked the lights on to reveal an empty sea of desks, just as he had expected. Homeroom didn't start for another hour or so, after all. He sat down at his desk and laid the class roster open on it so he could review what he had written.

Half the pictures already had little notes, from Rosemary Dean's 'Watch this one' to Takahashi Shizuko's 'Does she ever pay attention?' and 'Peaceful' to Taro and Possum's doubled-sided arrow and 'Thick as Thieves'. This class was quickly proving to be far more eccentric than any other he had taught except perhaps his first. Now, for Mochizuki Kagami...

He frowned. The girl certainly had a knack for magic, often picking up the simplest of spells with ease after a single demonstration while the others, Nakamura Sachiko and Urashima Taro in particular, took far longer. But, for some reason, she had trouble with any spell whose incantation was longer than a line or two. Thus far, her most complex spell was a single lightning arrow; anything else fizzled out or failed to form at all. Peculiar, but not unexpected. Yue had been very quick to pick up spells as well, though not as quickly as Kagami did. But then again, Yue had always been far more driven to learn magic, while Kagami still seemed to view it as some sort of game...they would have to break her of that. He hated to do it to the girl, but letting Eva loose on her might go a long way toward fixing that problem.

Now, Possum Cade... Negi sighed and started to rub his forehead, but couldn't help but grin. She could be a serious girl, true, but she was very good natured and loved to pull harmless pranks; she also seemed to be Urashima Taro's only real friend in the whole class. He had not really expected her to get along well with Max, but, much to his surprise, the two of them could sit in comfortable silence for hours. _Everyone_ seemed to like the girl, and Yuuna had loudly declared Possum to be her favorite student in Negi's new class. She formed friendships with an unusual ease that could be startling. Even _Eva_ seemed amused by her once they had spoken, and that was a very rare thing. Something about her magic seemed _off_, though. He couldn't put a finger on it, but he had the feeling she was hiding something important from him, and might already have had some magic training at some point in the past. He didn't know, and she wasn't talking. None of it made any sense; why did a seemingly normal girl like her have no problem accepting the reality of magic? Why did she, despite her apparent knowledge, not know the simplest incantation? What was she even doing in Japan in the first place? Her Japanese was good enough for casual conversation, but was terrible in every other sense. Her knowledge of the Japanese writing system was incredibly spotty too; she could read the common symbols well enough to understand most of her schoolwork or get around town, but anything specific gave her a lot of trouble until someone explained it. She had obviously never been taught textbook Japanese or even how to read Kanji or Kana, and yet she had managed to pick up enough to get around comfortably in little more than a year. The whole situation was very peculiar, and parts of it reminded him rather unsettlingly of his own situation when he had first come here, though he had picked up most of what was needed to speak the language properly in a few weeks rather than a month or two. Perhaps she was some sort of genius...?

And that brought his mind back to his class representative, Nakamura Sachiko. Entirely too serious, she had watched every spar session, every practice fight, every demonstration with an intense gaze, as if she was trying to permanently etch the deteails into her brain. It could be quite unsettling. She was a very quick learner when it came to the martial arts, though magic was another thing entirely. The poor girl could barely make a simple flame, even after two weeks of training. Her close combat, however, had improved by leaps and bounds; she had even managed to land a hit on Asuna on her fifth day in the resort. Asuna had taken it as a sign to pick up the pace, however, and the poor girl hadn't been able to repeat her feat, though she had come close a few times. She was still the only girl her age that Negi knew of who could beat Taro in a fair fight, and that was saying quite a lot.

Someone slammed the classroom door open and he jumped, startled back to reality by the sudden sound.

The girl stopped when she saw him seated there and bobbed her head in a brisk mockery of a bow. "Heh, sorry sensei, didn't mean to startle you. I didn't know you were in here," Miyoshi Youko said, reaching up to flick a stray lock of silver hair out of her face.

"Oh, don't worry about it Youko-san," Negi replied as he closed the class roster and opened his briefcase to shuffle through some test papers. "I should have been paying better attention."

Youko just stood there for a moment watching him, then smiled brightly and strolled across the room to his desk. He gave her a curious glance as she stood, hands on her hips, looking down at him with that strange grin and her eyes far too bright.

"Youko-san...?"

Her grin widened and became toothy. "You can just call me Youko, if you want," she said as she sat down on the edge of his desk. She caught his gaze with her own and held it.

Negi throat went dry and he started to get nervous. "Um, Miyoshi-san, please get off of my-"

"So what, you don't like me?" she said, grinning and looking at him with her too-bright eyes. "How about...this?" she said, snapping her fingers.

Negi jerked back a few inches as Asuna grinned knowingly at him from where Youko had been an instant before. She was wearing something that was...well, he had never seen anyone wearing something like that before and suffice to say, she must have been quite cold. He realized of course that it was Youko; there was no way Asuna would ever wear something like that in front of _him_, whether he asked for it or not. No! That wasn't it! Youko had been there an instant before, the question of whether or not the woman (No! Ex-student!) he was currently living with would wear something of that nature for his sake was completely irrelevant to the situation. Of course, all of that meant nothing next to the fact that he was still in his teens with no experience in matters of the flesh beyond the kiss required to make a pactio. "M-M-Miyoshi-san-!"

"Hmm? You don't like this one either?" she said, climbing up on his desk, where she stopped on her hands and knees to provide quite a view.

Negi gulped and looked away.

"Huh...maybe this one then?"

She reached out and cupped his cheek with her hand, and he found himself unable to resist looking as Konoka knelt in front of him in an apron and nothing else as she moved in close to sit on the edge of his desk, her legs hanging over the edge, one on each side trapping him in his chair as she leaned forward. "No?" Setsuna, with nothing but a casually placed wing between them. "Not her either? Oh~ I bet I know what _you're _into~" she said as she moved in even closer, now looking like Tsuruko in a dominatrix outfit. She moved to crack a whip and Negi shot up from his chair, tumbling the girl to the floor.

"Miyoshi-san! This behavior on the part of a student is unacceptable!" Was that his imagination, or did she actually look surprised...?

Youko, back to herself now, looked up at him from where she had been dumped on the floor. "You...but..."

"Miyoshi-san, please stand up! Your actions this morning have been utterly improper! Explain yourself immediately!" he demanded, mentally congratulating himself for even being able to speak; he was out of breath, his legs felt like jello, and his heart was beating so fast he was afraid it might burst. But...was that a hint of newfound respect he saw in her eyes?

Youko just looked up at him for a moment from where she sat sprawled on the floor, her eyes open wide for once and her face growing darker red as she blushed, then scrambled to her feet and bowed low.

"I-I'm sorry!" she said frantically, then ran to the door, threw it open, and dashed out into the hallway, almost bowling over several students as she went.

Negi collapsed back into his chair and leaned forward, dropping his head into his hands on his desk. What had _that_ been all about? Had she been testing him? If so, why? What was the point? But in any case, it had been close... _too_ close. For a moment there...he shivered. "So this is what it means to have a fox youkai in my class..." he muttered to himself as he focused on controlling his breathing. He had thought all those old stories had been just that, stories. Old wives' tales. But Youko...he sighed; he felt a headache coming on. Again. He had to make himself remember to take her more seriously; she wasn't a fourteen year old girl, she was over three hundred years old...but she was also his student, and he couldn't, he _wouldn't_ let any base urges take over, no matter _how_ old she was or who she made herself look like...! But it wasn't something he could afford to dwell on at the moment, the other students were starting to arrive.

* * *

Homeroom was fairly normal for once, and he was pleased to see Asuna had gotten the four girls back to Mahora on time, though the way Taro kept grinning so hugely was a little worrying. Overall, though, everything went smoothly.

It wasn't until Takahata pulled him aside while he was eating his lunch several hours later that he found out about Reiko.

* * *

"Where is she?" Negi demanded as he burst into the room he had been told Reiko had been moved into after the operation the night before.

"Sir, please lower your voice-" a nurse said.

"Don't tell me that! Where is she?" he said.

"Sir...!" the woman said, shooting him a scathing look. She knew who he was of course, everyone did. But one couldn't simply be allowed to rush into a very sick patient's room, yelling, and expect to get away with it! Even if he did happen to be the incredibly hot son of the most famous mage ever... Why, he looked as if he had just run a marathon! His suit was in disarray, he was breathing heavily, his hair was disheveled and sweaty...

"Hey, Negi, keep it down okay? I've got a terrible headache." The voice came from behind a heavy curtain partition.

Negi immediately started toward the curtain, but the nurse grabbed his arm and pulled him out into the hallway, shutting the door after him.

The nurse took a deep breath. "Please Mr. Springfield, Sakai-san needs a lot of rest. You must calm yourself and speak quietly if you want to see her," she said with an air of finality. "She needs a lot of rest, but seeing the connection the two of you share, I suppose I can give you a few moments of privacy, but please remember that she desperately needs rest! If I hear you have upset her in any way, I am afraid I will have to have you ejected from the building. Do you understand?"

"I understand," Negi said distractedly as he looked at the door.

"No, look at me," she said, stepping in front of him. "_Do you understand?_" Negi looked at her and nodded, and she nodded back, apparently satisfied. "Very well, you may go in. But remember what I said!"

With the nurse gone, Negi was left alone with the suddenly daunting fear of what he might find beyond that door, behind that curtain. He hesitantly opened the door and stepped inside, pulling it shut after him with a soft click. "...Reiko-san?"

"Are you coming over here or what?" Reiko asked from the other side of the curtain, her voice falling far, far short of its usual lively tone.

Negi moved over to the curtain, put his hand on the edge, and hesitated. 'What if she-' He cut that thought off halfway through and pushed the curtain aside. His jaw tightened at what he saw.

"What's wrong, never seen someone on the brink of death before?" Reiko asked tiredly, a faint glimmer of amusement in her eyes. "You're depressin' me, cheer up."

"…Reiko-san…" Negi whispered. He wiped the building moisture from his eyes as he looked down at her. Compared to the loud, lively girl who walked around in the middle of the sidewalk all the time and acted as if she owned the place, the Reiko here in the hospital bed in front of him was just a shadow of her former self. Her skin was pale with a sickly, fishbelly appearance, her breathing was ragged, and her eyes seemed to have some sort of grayish film over them as they drifted over the room, stopping here and there to apparently look at things that weren't there before snapping back. She looked pale, washed out. And now that he could see her clearly without the façade of healthy young womanhood she normally showed the world, he could see just how bad her condition was. She was practically skin and bones…! And there was no way to ignore the straps holding her to the bed. She looked so small...! "Reiko-san, what happened?" he finally managed to ask. Surely she hadn't been this way before, and he just never noticed, right? That was impossible, right?

"It was a ghoul," Reiko said. "I never saw one before, but I knew what he was right away. I sent Sayo-chan to get Shizuna and Takamichi, but they didn't get there quick enough, I guess," she said as she slumped a bit further into the bed, weak as a kitten. After a moment, she summoned the energy to continue. "I held him off as long as I could, but he got me and I had to ask Tetsuo for strength. I think I crushed his neck, but I don't remember."

A lance of irritation momentarily broke through the worry that clouded Negi's mind upon hearing the ghost's name. Tetsuo had been a very strong and dangerous ghost, and he had almost killed Reiko when she and Negi caught him together several years ago. He hadn't known she still had the eraser the ghost had been sealed into. "Reiko-san, you were supposed to hand that over to the mage teachers," he said disapprovingly, clutching at anything to distract his mind from the sight before him.

Reiko's gaze drifted up to the ceiling and she let out a deep breath. "If I had I would be dead by now, or worse."

"Reiko-san…are you really okay?" Negi asked after a moment. He just couldn't stay mad at her, not when she looked like...like this.

"I'm doing as well as can be expected. You know. Surviving a ghoul attack like I did."

How could she speak like that while on the brink of death?

"Oh stop making that face, Negi. It's not that bad. If I end up dieing, well…it's just death," Reiko said, looking out through the window. There were thick bars on the inside.

"Reiko-san!"

"Don't worry, Negi. Now go away, I'm tired," she said as she turned her head toward the wall and shut her eyes. "If something happens and you blame yourself, I'll come back and haunt you forever."

Negi frowned. "Reiko-san-"

"Shut up and go away, I need some sleep and you're disturbing me."

* * *

Kagami shuddered as she got the story from Misa. "That's terrible! Is she going to be okay?" She didn't know Reiko as anything more than another face that she sometimes saw around Negi-sensei, but still... A ghoul? What was a ghoul? Something mean enough to tear up Reiko, anyway. She carefully avoided the thought that it had been lurking around while she was running around like an idiot cosplaying as Magical Girl Kagamin.

"I don't know. I wanted to go over there and vaporize the ghoul, but apparently they need the stupid thing," Misa said, irritated as she rolled over in the grass. She barely knew Reiko either beyond a few security patrols spent with her before the band really took off, but the girl was a part of Ala Alba. You didn't mess with a member of Ala Alba and expect get away with it. 'Fricken ghoul's lucky it has been ripped apart yet,' she thought to herself. Few of their friends would be able to leave this alone...maybe Nodoka, or Satsuki? No, Satsuki could be terrifying when necessary, though Nodoka would probably just give the ghoul a tearful look and make it die of guilt.

Kagami yelped as the spell she was trying exploded at the tip of her wand, breaking off Misa's increasingly vengeful line of thought. "Keep practicing until you can do it with your eyes closed," she instructed.

Kagami nodded and went back to practicing the spell for magic arrows. After a few minutes, however, she turned back to Misa, who was now lying flat on her back with her arms outstretched as she contemplated the clouds. "So what is a ghoul, exactly?"

Misa sat up and assumed an exaggerated thoughtful expression for Kagami's benefit. "Eva said that they're the creations of vampires or necromancers, like some sort of movie zombie, I guess. Well, most of 'em are, anyway. I read in one of her books that really powerful vampires can make intelligent ones to act as servants or guards or soldiers or whatever, and it looks like that's what this one is."

"Oh," Kagami said, mystified. She tried the spell again. It fizzled.

"I wonder if they're anything like golems…?" Misa said aloud a moment later and scrunched her face up as she thought.

"What?"

"Nothing."

* * *

"So," Eva said, forcing her way into the headmaster's office while a secretary squawked at her. "Where's this ghoul I'm hearing so much about?"

"Evangeline, how nice of you to join me. Would you like some tea?" the headmaster asked, gesturing to an empty cup as he took a sip from his own.

"Don't play games, old man. I want to see the ghoul," Eva said, crossing her arms and glaring in a way that was quite amusing to see on her ten year old body.

He closed his eyes and grinned. She never changed, and he hoped she never would...the world needed people like Evangeline A.K. McDowell, strangely enough. He stood up and downed the last of his tea. "Takamichi is with him now. I am curious about some things myself; would you accompany a frail old man?"

"Frail my ass. Don't give me that, come on," Eva ordered.

He couldn't help but laugh.

* * *

The ghoul's cell was located in the depths of the secret underground mage laboratories under the administration building. Takahata was waiting for the two of them when they arrived.

"So, Takamichi, have you learned anything?" Konoemon asked as they walked.

"Nothing useful, no," Takahata replied. The ghoul was proving very stubborn, refusing to answer any questions or offer any information at all. He looked at Eva. "Your particular talents may be of more use here, Eva."

"Oh. Goody," she stated, utterly deadpan. "How far is it?"

"Not too far now," Takahata said. He led them down a couple hallways, through some heavy doors, and finally to the high security level, where the cells were massive things, built more like bank vaults than prison cells. He stopped in front of a thick vault door covered in magic symbols. "He's in here. He seems to be the most powerful ghoul we have on record. Reiko crushed his neck you know; he healed completely in six hours. His physical strength is immense; he broke loose from his restraints and tried to kill one of the assistants earlier."

"Did he have anything with him?" Eva asked as she looked at the door.

"We found several items in his clothing, but nothing that would allow him to pass the barriers the way he did."

"I see. I'll look at that stuff later." Eva motioned for the headmaster to step aside as Takahata unsealed the door and pulled it open enough to let the automated mechanism open it the rest of the way. Almost immediately, something slammed into the door from the other side and the computer automatically halted the opening process. Takahata looked at Eva, then moved away to give her enough space.

"Looks like he's loose again. Are you sure you want to do it like this?" he asked. Eva just nodded. The ghoul slammed into the door again, popping it another six inches out. "Everyone, get back," Takahata ordered as various mages and assistants scrambled to leave the hallway and set up wards at either end in case the ghoul, by some slim chance, managed to slip past Eva, Takahata, and Konoemon. The ghoul slammed into the door twice more. "Next time should do it," Takahata said.

Eva's expression became distant as she watched the door and waited. The door popped open and the ghoul jumped out straight toward Eva, a hissing, growling beast in human form, enraged at its imprisonment.

Eva barely even moved. She just reached out, plucked the ghoul out of the air by its head as though snatching a fly, gave it a good shake, and threw it back into the cell, where it hit the opposite wall with a sickening thud and fell to the floor. She looked back at Takahata and the headmaster. "Watch the door. I'll be done in a minute." Then she stepped into the cell, pulling the door shut behind her.

Takahata grunted in amusement.

"I never get tired of that," the headmaster said in response.

* * *

"So," Eva said, sitting crosslegged on the narrow cot in the ghoul's cell. "Who are you, and who sent you?"

The ghoul glared at her and growled. Eva reached out, grabbed his arm, and twisted it until bones popped. The ghoul winced, but kept his silence.

"If you would like to be permanently silent, I can rip your tongue out," Eva said conversationally.

The ghoul gave her a disbelieving look. "I'm a ghoul you twit. If you do that, it'll just grow back."

Eva cocked her eyebrow as she looked at him. Not too long ago, she might have taken someone apart piece by piece for saying something like that; now...it was just mildly annoying. She wondered briefly if she might be going soft, but brushed it off. "I could just do it over and over until the end of time, salting the wounds and making it as unbearable as I possibly could until you want to talk," she said idly.

The ghoul frowned, but remained silent.

"Talk. Who are you?"

"Who wants to know?" he taunted.

Eva stood up, put a hand on her hip, and grinned evilly. "Do you really want to know? They call me many things, but some of my more common names are Maga Nosferatu, the Dark Evangel, Evangeline A.K. McDowell," she said, seeming to loom over the ghoul. Of course, she was standing on the cot, and he was seated on the floor. She could never manage to loom otherwise without using illusion magic.

The ghoul just gaped at her, the expression more than a little disturbing on his bloodless face. "But you're just a brat! The Dark Evangel is…is…"

Eva grinned not at all pleasantly. "The Dark Evangel is…?"

"She…is a monster. One of the strongest vampires alive; I was told Evangeline McDowell is a master of…of illusion…" the ghoul said, trailing off.

Eva grinned wider and still less pleasantly.

The ghoul quickly knelt down and bowed his head. "I offer my apologies. My name is Carrick, I am a servant of the Great Vampire Lord Zeph Castor. I was sent to deliver a message to you, my lady."

"Zeph Castor? What does that old washout want with me?" Eva asked as she sat down on the bed again and made herself comfortable. The ghoul remained kneeling on the floor with his head down.

"He sends an invitation to join the Great Council in Mundus Magicus. Should you accept, you will be given-"

"I refuse."

Carrick's head jerked up and he looked at her, aghast. "You...you refuse?" he said in stunned confusion. "But why? It is the greatest honor-"

"That so-called 'Great Council' is just a bunch of old fogies that never get out in the sun and actually _do_ anything. They just sit around in their castles or mansions or wherever it is they stay and get moldy in and go on and on about their idiotic 'Grand Stage' or whatever they call it. I could wipe out half of them without even breaking a sweat. Now tell me, ghoul, why I should even _consider_ joining them?"

"W-well…because you were invited," the ghoul said lamely. He was still stunned that she would say such things about his master and the Great Council.

Eva laughed dismissively and move on to a subject that she actually spared more than an instant's thought for. "Now, tell me why you attacked the medium."

Carrick, suddenly back in familiar territory, shrugged. "I was hungry, I needed to eat."

"Wrong answer, Carrick," Eva said cheerfully as she hopped off the cot.

* * *

Takahata and Konoemon turned to face the door as it opened, revealing Eva and the now blood-and-chunk spattered room. The other mages that had gathered tensed, but Takahata just sighed.

"...it will be difficult to question him now, I see."

"Eva-san, what did you do...?" one of the school mages said, horrified. "Takahata-sensei is right! Questioning had barely even begun!"

"Hmm? Oh, I just ripped him apart. He was a tough one; magic based, not alchemy based. A _proper _ghoul...you can't kill that kind by ripping them apart, and they aren't very susceptible to torture. You wouldn't have gotten anything out of him no matter what you tried. It doesn't matter though; he was very well made, he should recover in a month or so. But anyway, I got the information you needed," she said as she turned to the headmaster. "Some idiot in the magic world sent him here."

"Now why would he do that?" Old Man Konoemon asked, looking at the vampire.

Eva sighed and rolled her eyes. "Apparently, those moldy old fools that call themselves the 'Great Vampire Lords' are pulling some political maneuver, and Zeph Castor wants me to join them," she said, finishing with a sneer at the thought of the other vampire.

"Will you join them?" Takahata asked as he fished out a pack of cigarettes, still eyeing the mess Eva had made of the ghoul.

"Hmph. They're weak," Eva said, scoffing at the very idea of such a thing. What sort of idiot vampire drew attention to themselves by joining a council, anyway? It was a good way to pointlessly make yourself a target, in her opinion. She abruptly turned to the headmaster. "My advice is this: Strengthen the barriers, triple patrols, and have them call for backup if they see anyone unfamiliar. There are a couple dozen of those idiots in the other world, and they'll probably try to outmaneuver each other by all doing the same thing. If you don't want your students and teachers to die, heed my words old man. Oh, and here, you'll probably want this," she said, holding out a small metal charm. "That was in his stomach; it's what allowed him to bypass the barriers. Pretty strong stuff, that." And, with that, Eva turned to go.

"Wait, Eva," Takahata said suddenly. Eva stopped and looked back. "Why are you helping us like this? What is Reiko-san to you?"

Eva grinned crookedly. "She amuses me. Now go draw up some plans, there will be others coming," she said as she walked away with a spring in her step that had been missing for quite some time.

* * *

_**Author's Notes**: You know, writing Eva having 'fun' is scarily fun in and of itself._

_Stories about Fox Youkai: Fox Youkai were pretty well known for seducing people and/or taking advantage of them. In many ways._

_

* * *

_

Narutaki Fuuka - Failure Older Sister

Born - 12/6/1988

Height - 5'1"

Likes: Kaede, climbing, practicing ninja skills, teasing

Dislikes: Being teased

Little Known Facts: Only passed her Ninja Rank Test on her third try (her sister passed on her first try)

* * *

Narutaki Fumika - Victorious Younger Sister

Born - 12/6/1988

Height - 5'1"

Likes: Kaede, tea ceremony, happy people

Dislikes: Frogs

Little Known Facts: She is secretly ridiculously proud of the fact that she finally beat her sister in something.

* * *

Nagase Kaede - Ninja Tree Addict

Born - 11/12/1988

Height - 6'

Likes: Simple things, relaxing

Dislikes: big cities, smog

Little Known Facts: She once accidentally got stuck tied hanging from a tree branch and had to wait six hours while everyone in the secret ninja village came and took pictures and laughed.


	21. Ch 19 Secret Training

**_Still Waters 3, Chapter 19, Secret Training  
_**

* * *

_Dear Possum,_

_Well, it's me again. I've seen to the arrangements for Grandma's funeral; everything is taken care of. She mentioned you often in her final days, and told me to tell you that she doesn't blame you for not coming back since she was the one who sent you to her friend in Japan anyway, and in fact was very angry that you wanted to return. She said you weren't safe here since the Burial Agency knows your face after that fiasco in New Mexico last year. _

_But anyway, don't worry. Everything's taken care of. _

_Love,_

_Your big sis Lucy_

_P.S. - If you blame yourself, I'm going to fly over there and kick your butt, got it?_

_P.P.S. - Come to think of it, once Grandma's funeral is over I'll just pack everything up and come over myself. It's not like there's any reason to stay over here now, you know? Anyway, you'd better be behaving yourself over there!_

* * *

A few days passed, and everyone carefully avoided talking about Reiko and focused instead on training the new kids from Negi's class.

"So...er...what did you need me for, sensei?" Abe Aiko asked as she looked up at the P.E. teacher as he stood there impatiently.

"Just wait for the others," he replied as he checked his watch for the third time in the past five minutes. Aiko put her bag down and sat down on the edge of the small fountain in the small, nicely landscaped area where she had been instructed to go after school let out.

Max checked his watch again, and Aiko sighed. What was this all about, anyway? She hadn't done anything that would get her in trouble, and it wasn't as if her grades were _that_ bad... And what about this 'wait for the others' stuff? Who else was supposed to be here...?

That question was answered a moment later when her roommate Yamamoto Kimi, looking warily at the aggravated teacher, who merely nodded at her and checked his watch again. Aiko looked at her curiously as she sat down beside her and gave her a questioning look in turn.

"So what's this all about?" Kimi whispered.

Aiko shook her head. "I dunno. They just gave me a note that said to come here after school. Did you get one too?"

Kimi nodded. "Yeah, at lunchtime. So you too, huh?"

Aiko nodded, and then the duo fell into silence again while their P.E. teacher paced nearby. The silence was broken a moment later by the low muttering of two voices, and Aiko realized what must be happening as Mako Sylvester and Sato Gin arrived and slowed to a stop upon spotting Aiko and Kimi. The four girls looked at each other apprehensively, then in unison at the teacher, who had a rather severe frown on his face as he checked his watch again and looked expectantly back at the path that led toward the school.

Mako and Sato moved to join Aiko and Kimi at the fountain, and the four girls automatically moved in close so they could speak without the teacher overhearing them.

"Okay, so who told?" Aiko asked, eyeing the other three seriously.

Mako and Kimi shook their heads.

"Wasn't me," Gin said defensively. "I haven't said a word about what happened in Kyoto to _anybody."_

"And I know it wasn't me," Aiko said. "So that leaves what, Kai and the class rep?"

The others nodded and sighed.

"Kondo-san seems kinda flaky, do you think she would say something?" Gin asked._  
_

Aiko thought for a moment, then shook her head. "Maybe, but she didn't even want to admit she was an oni even to me, and she knew I already knew. I think it was probably the class rep."

Gin growled something under her breath, while Mako just shook her head and looked away.

* * *

Kimi sighed and closed her eyes as she reached up to rub her forehead, a gesture she had spotted Negi-sensei doing more and more often lately. Now, she felt as if she might understand why. Was this all it took to turn friends-or allies, at least, no one was really _friends_ with the class rep...she was simply too distant from everyone-against each other? Her thoughts were cut off as Max let out a growl. She looked up at the teacher as he pulled a battered cell phone from his pocket, then turned her attention to Aiko just in time to meet her eyes. Her friend was curious, and to tell the truth, she was as well. Why had they been gathered here like this? Were they in trouble for what had happened in Kyoto...?

"Yeah, Sachi. Do you know where Kondo is?" Max said, his voice like gravel. Kimi winced; he sounded ready to kill someone.

"...got it. Go get her and bring her here as soon as you can, we're all waiting. Bye," he said as she flipped the phone shut and turned to look at the four girls. "And you four, stop talking about your classmates that way," he said, giving them all a fierce glare that sent a chill down Kimi's back. A quick glance at the others showed that they had probably experienced the same thing. "Especially you, Silver. She's your freaking roommate! You four are in enough trouble as it is, so don't go around causing divisions where there aren't any already."

Kimi secretly agreed, but wasn't about to say anything aloud.

"Well if she told-eep!" Gin cut herself off as the teacher gave her a sharp look, and Kimi felt a little sympathy for her. Not much, though. From what little interaction she had had with the girl, Gin seemed sort of bitter and angry at the world. Kimi figured it was just teenage angst; she hoped the other girl would grow out of it soon...it could be very aggravating at times. But, looking at her unusual height, strange hair color, and the sheer creepiness that seemed to emanate from her whenever she was near others, she probably had plenty of good reasons to act as she did. No one like _that_ would have done well in any public school in Japan, except, perhaps, the ones here at Mahora, and she knew for a fact Gin had only transferred in a year or two ago, around the same time she herself had. Even in Kyoto, Kimi knew, there weren't many like Gin, and Kyoto was almost as weird as Mahora...!

"Sensei," Aiko said suddenly as she stood up. Kimi looked back and forth between the student and the teacher, and waited.

"What is it?" he said, looking down at her. Even standing on the ledge around the bottom of the fountain, she was over a head shorter than Max Linell. She bore it well, though, and Kimi applauded her courage in facing the teacher like this.

"What's going on, are we in trouble?" Aiko asked.

Max just looked at her for a moment, then moved on to each of the girls in turn, giving each one a serious look. Kimi tried not to shrink back from that look. "In a manner of speaking, yes. You four are probably in the biggest trouble of your lives; yes, even you, Silver. We know about a lot of things, and it'd be best if you all just settle down and wait."

Aiko stubbornly refused to sit down, however, and climbed up on the edge of the fountain so she could the P.E. teacher in the eye. Kimi marveled at her audacity. "So what's going to happen to us? she asked, meeting his gaze and refusing to look away.

Max tried to stare her down for a moment, then gave it up and sighed. "Heh, get down before you fall down, Abe," he said as he took her by her upper arms and lifted her from the fountain and placed her back on the ground with astonishing ease. "You've got guts, that's important. Don't lose that," he said thoughtfully as he looked back toward the path the other girls were supposed to arrive by. "You're all in trouble, but probably not the way you're thinking. Nothing will be the same after this. And there's really nothing any of you can do about it," he added, looking from face to face. "You're all in too deep already." He settled down on the edge of the fountain and crossed his arms and waited.

* * *

They heard the voices before they saw the new arrivals.

"I'm telling you, I don't want to go!"

Someone grunted with effort. "You have no...no choice...!" The familiar voice sounded uncharacteristically frustrated and strained.

"But I-I mean-I just don't wanna go!"

"Sounds like they're finally here," Max said as he stood up and strolled down the path toward the voices, temporarily leaving the four girls alone.

"Is that the class rep?" Aiko asked.

"Ugh, I knew it," Gin said. She heaved a sigh and rolled her eyes, and crossed her arms.

A moment later the teacher returned, the class rep behind him and Kondo Kai looking sheepish as she brought up the rear. Gin sent a hard look at Sachiko, who easily met the glare with a simple stare of her own until Gin backed down and looked away.

"Go on Sachi, sorry about calling you away from your club like that," Max said.

"It's no problem. The club isn't meeting today," the girl said, glanced at Aiko and gave a nearly imperceptible bob of her head, then turned and walked away in the direction she had come.

Aiko watched her go for a moment. 'Why did she nod at me...?'

* * *

"Ok, now that you're all here," Max said, glaring at Kai, "it's time to show you what's going on. Follow me." He set off down another path, then paused and looked back at the group of confused girls. "Well?"

Aiko sighed and stood up. "Well come on then," she said irritably as she strolled toward the teacher. Kimi glanced at the other three and followed. Mako and Gin looked at each other, and Mako smiled a little and followed.

"Hey, ah...you don't think we're gonna get in trouble, do you?" Kai asked.

Gin gave the other girl a surprised look. Kondo Kai had never spoken to her before...she turned to give the other girl a hard look. From her pretty blonde hair to her big green eyes to her long legs, Kai was far and away better looking that Gin, and, Gin had to grudgingly admit, that had probably colored her own perceptions of the girl. She had always thought Kai was just another vapid airhead with dyed hair. She sighed. "We're already IN trouble. Somebody told the teachers about what happened in Kyoto, I think."

Kai just gaped at her.

Gin frowned and turned to follow the others. "Come on, it'll only get worse if you try to run away again," she said irritably.

* * *

Gin just stood there and gaped.

"But...the cabin...and the basement...but where...?"

She looked around to see if the others were equally surprised, but much to her surprise, neither Aiko nor Kai seemed to care at all. Kimi looked pale, well...paler than usual, as did Mako, though none of them seemed to be mumbling the way she found herself doing. This place was huge! She had admittedly gotten nervous as the teacher led them to that little house in the woods, but confusion had taken over when her classmate Chachamaru answered the door after the first knock and had only gotten worse when her other classmates Eva and Rally appeared inside sitting on a couch, apparently taking a doll apart. Eva had simply glanced up at them, rolled her eyes, and nodded toward another door that it turned out led to the basement. Gin, upon going through that door, had been pleasantly surprised to find what appeared to be a giant hamster cage, all tunnels and spheres filling the room, though closer observation showed it to be some sort of elaborate diorama instead. She had been leaning over the biggest sphere, trying to look at the beautiful castle it contained when, with a flash and a sparkle, she found herself standing in front of a huge castle that looked rather frighteningly like the one in the sphere. She staggered back a few steps until she accidentally bumped into a wall of muscle, and Max laid a steadying hand on her shoulder as she started to mutter an apology.

Man, that had been embarrassing. None of the others had reacted the same way, though Mako had stared at the castle for a moment, wide eyed, before snapping out of it.

"Sato-san!" Aiko called, snapping Gin out of her reverie. "Come on, let's go."

Gin turned away from the castle and looked toward the others, who were waiting for her. "O-okay!" she said in as pleasant a tone as she could muster. This...this would take some getting used to.

* * *

Some time later, Gin sighed and rubbed her forehead as they all sat around a table. This was getting more unbelievable by the second...! She had known magic was real-it's kind of hard to not believe in magic after all when you could curse physical changes into things and people-but she hadn't know about anything like _this_. This place was amazing...! She was so distracted that she barely heard the teacher's explanation of why they had been gathered, and didn't even notice he had asked her a question until she realized everyone was staring at her. "...what?"

The teacher cocked his eyebrow in a way that made him look very intimidating, and she tried to avoid sinking into the comfortable cushion of the couch she was sitting on. "I asked about your ability, Silver. What is it?"

Gin looked at the floor as she tried to concentrate. How to explain it...? How could one explain what she was able to do? It wasn't the sort of thing that could be explained easily, not even her Great Aunt, the one who had taught her to control her ability and had possessed something similar, had been able to explain it. She went for the easy answer. "Er...cursing, I guess?"

Max just looked at her.

"It's not really like a _curse_ sort of curse, not like having a gold touch or anything, just...sort of curselike?"

"..."

Gin started to sweat. Why did he look so serious? She felt someone take her hand for a moment and gave a shocked look at Mako, who gave her an encouraging nod and a small smile. She swallowed the lump in her throat, took a deep breath, let it out, and looked at the table around which everyone sat. She stood up and knelt before the table, holding her hand out above it as she concentrated, focusing her mind on the change she wanted to bring about.

"Coffee table, may you turn to stone!" she said, and slapped her hand onto the hard tabletop. To her surprise, an unusually strong flash of power shot out over the table, followed an instant later by the odd creaking noises of wood turning to stone, starting from where her hand was in contact with the table and swiftly spreading out, the flow not unlike the way it looked when one poured a steady stream of some fluid onto a flat surface. The wooden table legs creaked ominously under the rapidly increasing weight of the tabletop but stopped when they, too, turned to stone.

There was a stunned silence as everyone stared at the table.

Gin started to get nervous again. Why did they all look so surprised? In a world where you could have a giant castle inside a little glass ball, why were they so shocked that she could make a wood table into a stone table? It didn't make any sense...!

"That...was very cool," Aiko finally said, breaking the stunned silence.

Gin blinked. "What?" No one had ever said anything like that to her before.

"That was very cool," Aiko said again. Gin was shocked to look around and see the others nodding. Even the teacher had a grin that could best be described as 'pleasantly surprised'.

"Everyone, be quiet," Max said after a moment as he knelt down to inspect the table. He looked at the tabletop, experimentally poked and prodded it, looked underneath, lightly kicked the table legs, and finally rested his weight on it. He stood up and nodded when he was through. "It's real stone. You do realize, however, that that was a sixteenth century antique?"

Gin's gaze dropped to the table again in horror. What had she just _done_...?

"Don't worry about it, I'll explain it to Eva," he said, then dropped the subject as he turned to the girl seated beside her. "Okay. Your turn next."

Mako shrank back slightly and Gin realized that this whole thing must be as hard on the girl next to her as it had been on her. Maybe even worse. She concentrated on thinking reassuring thoughts and bumped Mako's hand with her own. Mako gave her a surprised look and a grateful smile and straightened up a little, and Gin waited to hear what the girl had to say.

"I...I guess you could say I'm...well..." Mako trailed off awkwardly.

Much to Gin's surprise, it was Aiko who spoke up. "It's okay. Would you like someone else to go first?" Gin realized even the P.E. teacher looked surprised at that, but Mako shook her head.

"It's okay, I'll do it. It's just..." Everyone nodded. It was just hard to say something like this out loud when you had hidden it for years. Mako looked around from face to face and finally seemed to decide something. She looked down at her lap and squeezed her eyes shut.

"I'm psychic."

Silence greeted this proclamation, but it wasn't another awkward silence like before. Gin took her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze, and Mako looked up, surprised, again giving a searching look to each person around the table. "W-what...?"

"Go on," the teacher said.

Mako's face colored and she dropped her gaze to the tabletop, but she continued on regardless. "I...I can see things when I t-touch people," she said, then waited for the cries of 'Freak!' and 'Weirdo!' that she logically knew wouldn't come, not from these people, but which she couldn't help but expect anyway. She glanced up at the others and saw only interest, so continued on, reassured. "It doesn't always have to be physical contact with a person; sometimes it works with something they really cherished, or something they carried around all the time. Anything that could pick up a person's feelings over time..." she realized she was rambling and stopped, blushing.

"So, what, clairsentience?" Max asked. Mako nodded and indicated that it was the next person's turn.

Kai started to speak, but Aiko spoke up first. "That would be you, Max-sensei," she said, eyeing him seriously.

Max gave her a surprised look and barked an ugly laugh. He looked from face to face and nodded. "Fair enough," he said as he held out his hand, palm up. "I'm a fire elemental."

Everyone jerked back as a small fireball _whooshed_ into being three inches above his hand. He concentrated on it and it changed shape, swirling and twisting until it looked like one of those old-fashioned animations of an atom before abruptly winking out of existence, leaving a hint of a smell not unlike burning incense in the air.

"Well I'm an oni I guess, but I can't do anything like that," Kai said abruptly, attempting to cut off her turn early. "Next!"

"Not so fast!" Aiko said, sitting up straighter.

Kai sighed. "I figured that," she said sadly.

"While I would like to see more of Max-sensei's ability, I feel that there is something you should show everyone, don't you?" she said, looking intently at Kai.

Kai squirmed in her chair for a moment before reaching up and taking off the beret she was wearing.

"The hair too," Aiko commanded.

Kai sighed again, looking much-put-upon, and reached up to undo the two weird balls of hair she almost always kept her hair in.

"Ooooh," Gin said, her eyes widening as she stared.

"That's..."

"Hmm...interesting," Kimi said.

Kai, meanwhile, was squirming and blushing and looking incredibly embarrassed. "Stop staring!"

Gin found herself hypnotized as she stared at the two cute little white horns on Kai's head and before she knew it, she was up off the couch and moving around the table to stand behind Kai's chair. Kai twisted around to look up at her, but wasn't quick enough to stop her from reaching out and poking one.

"Ah!"

"Ohh." *poke poke*

"Hey, sto-ah! stop that!"

"Hmm..." *poke poke poke*

"Ah!"

"I...I want to try it too..." Mako said quietly.

Max sighed and rubbed his forehead as the other girls quickly crowded around Kai, poking at her oni horns while she feebly protested. "Hey, guys? Quit molesting your classmate, please," he said after a moment. It was best to let them get it out of their systems, otherwise they'd be following the poor girl around for _weeks_.

There was a flood of embarrassed denials, apologies, and lots of blushing as they returned to their seats, leaving Kai slouched across the arm of her chair, blushing heavily and panting. "N...next..." she said weakly.

Kimi spoke up quickly, still blushing as she realized what she had just taken part in. "I-I'm just a regular person, I was just trained in how to use a katana," she said, and sat down, then stood up again. "And a wakizashi. And a tanto. And a Kodachi..." she glanced at Kai, who was still struggling to catch her breath, and sat down abruptly, her face going red. "I'm sorry, Kondo-san."

"...it's okay I guess..." Kai said.

"So that just leaves you," Max said, eyeing Aiko.

Gin found herself looking at the short girl again. Aiko was very odd, in her opinion. In class or day to day activities she tended to fade out of focus; not so, here. The girl had clearly taken charge with an ease that was astounding...! Gin had already found herself looking to the girl for instructions several times, and they had only been here a few hours! It was rather bizarre, the ease with which Aiko had become their leader. They weren't even a coherent group!

"Well...I guess you could say...er..." Aiko said, trailing off awkwardly now that the tables had turned.

"Yeah?" Gin said.

"Er...I'm sort of...the future head of the most skilled onmyodo group in Kyoto..." the short girl said, rubbing the back of her head as she looked off to the side. "Eh heh...heh..."

"I _knew_ there was something weird about your grandmother!" Gin said as she shot out of her seat. "So it's onmyodo, huh?" Aiko gave her a look and Gin sat back down. "No need to be like that," she muttered grudgingly.

"She's _not_ weird," Aiko said as she sat back in her chair and crossed her arms defensively over her chest.

"So," Max said, interrupting the brewing argument before it could start. "What can you do?"

"Well..." Aiko said. She paused a moment and looked at the wall over to the side in order to avoid anyone else's eyes. "I can...well...control the oni in Kyoto..."

Gin blinked at that. Control the oni? Wow...! But...she glanced at Kai, who had gone wide eyed and looked to be on the verge of panic. Aiko happened to glance at Gin, then looked over at Kai.

"N-not that I would try to control you, Kondo-san! I wouldn't!"

The oni girl was understandably skeptical.

"What else can you do?" Max asked, his gruff voice startling the girl.

Aiko squirmed as she looked down at her lap. "Well, I guess I can also make paper talismans...and purify a small territory...and create a barrier...and-" She went on for several minutes, listing all the things she had been trained in as the future head of the family while the others sat quietly and listened. "...and I can create a holy ground, and undo curses too. That's it. I think." The teacher started to speak when Aiko interrupted. "Oh! I almost forgot, I can create what I guess you would think of as a scrying pool."

"Is that all?" Max asked.

"Yeah, that's it."

There was silence for a moment. Aiko looked down at the floor awkwardly. Why wasn't anyone saying anything?

"That...is so cool."

Aiko looked up in surprise. "What?"

"That...is just so cool...!" Gin said, standing up from her seat next to Mako. She had been trying so hard for so long to find other people who could do weird things like she could, and they had been right here in her own class all along...! It was amazing!

"Cool?" Aiko asked, shocked into disbelief.

"Yeah! Hey! Make a paper talisman, okay?"

"B-but I don't have any of the materials-"

"Does it take special paper, or will notebook paper work? What about a pen? Or do you have to use a brush? Come on come on tell me!"

"I-"

"I bet that room with all the paper I saw earlier would have something you can use, come on!" she said, grabbed Aiko's hand and pulling her out of her chair.

"Wait! I don't even-"

"Come on come on come on let's go!" Gin said, tugging Aiko outside into the hall.

The room went quiet as the remaining occupants looked toward the open doorway. A few seconds later Gin poked her head back into the room. "Hey Max-sensei, where was that room with the paper and stuff?"

Max cocked an eyebrow as he looked at her. "Two halls down, the third door on your left," he said.

"Thanks!" Gin said, then took off down the hallway. The occupants of the room listened to the sound of retreating footsteps mingled with Aiko's faint protestations until both faded away.

"Well, I suppose they'll be busy for a while," Max said.

* * *

The days spent in Eva's resort were long and hard, filled first with difficult tests to determine the extent of the new group's abilities, how well they could utilize their skills, and how they worked together as a team, and later with training suited to enhancing each girl's unique abilities and teamwork. Aiko was far and away the most skilled with what she knew of magic, though that was to be expected, having been trained since birth by masters of the arts of onmyodo. Her roommate Yamamoto Kimi, however, was by far the best with weapons of any sort. Though she claimed to be a normal person, she eventually admitted that her late mother had trained her extensively in the usage of Eastern blades of every type, and upon testing she proved a quick study with European styles as well. It would be some time before she could reach the level of the more experienced combatants of Mahora, however.

Sato Gin and Mako Sylvester quickly developed an innate sense of teamwork that led the two of them on to defeat the other three girls in mock-combat together time and time again, much to the pair's amusement and the others' chagrin.

However, for all her tremendous oni strength and stamina, Kondo Kai might as well have been a child among the others. She could generally get out of the way of an attack and she knew a little about swordplay from her activities with the kendo club, but there was precious little else she could do to make herself useful in a fight, as she proved time and time again in the days before Negi's arrival in the resort. It was after a particular humiliating loss to Sato Gin the day before the young teacher arrived that Max took her aside.

* * *

After thirteen days of training, Kai shot a furtive glance up at the scowling teacher as they walked along beside the parapets of the castle in silence. The heat was, as usual, quite intense, and Kai found herself wishing she had dressed more lightly as she absently wiped some sweat from her forehead. Her hair was all a mess, hanging flat off her head and in her eyes, no matter how many times she swept it out of the way. She had grown a little more comfortable letting her oni horns go unhidden, but still felt naked with a hat. "Argh!"

"You should use a headband, or a pony tail," Max said after a moment, the first thing other than a gruff 'Follow me' he had said since he had pulled her aside earlier. Kai gave him a sidelong look.

"Sensei, what is this about?"

The teacher continued walking in silence for a moment, then stopped and leaned forward on the parapet wall, looking out over the entry platform where Kimi was practicing with the Katana she had taken from the armory.

"...sensei?"

"I'm beginning to wonder why you are here," he said after a moment, his voice softer than she had ever heard it before.

"B-but...what do you mean?" she asked. If...if he didn't want her here, what happened next? Would she be kicked out? She hated to admit it, but she really liked the other girls; they had begun to come together as a team. It was surprising, really...she hadn't thought being a part of a group like that could mean so much to her. Sure, she had her Kendo club and the No Name Band, but the club was just a bunch of random students who rarely spent more than a few minutes together outside of club meetings, and though she really enjoyed being a drummer the whole thing was marred by being forced to watch out for any of the million little things that could set Ayumi off. Heaven knew it it was easy enough to get her mad without even trying, but sometimes the other girl seemed to be _looking_ for a fight! It was exhausting, trying to balance Ayumi's obvious self doubt with Kara's obliviousness to her own overinflated sense of self-worth while keeping Miyako's shyness from making her a target every time the stress of the situation boiled over. Needless to say, it was _not_ an easy task.

Her time here, however, had shown her that all the stress, agonizing over every little detail, the distance between fellow club members...it just wasn't necessary. Instead, there was Gin's quick-and just as quickly forgotten-criticism, Mako's quiet understanding, Kimi's friendly banter, and, believe it or not, Aiko's easy leadership. She had never known a group of people could work together so smoothly, and found herself realizing that if something didn't change soon, the kendo club members would go their separate ways without a second thought, and the band would be unlikely to last out the year. She didn't have anywhere else to go; this was all she really had left.

But still, Max stood there before her, leaning on the parapet as he looked out into space, an uncharacteristically solemn expression on his face.

"...sensei...?"

"You don't work hard, in your spar sessions you just dodge attacks until your opponent gets tired, and you haven't shown any improvement in anything at all since the first day," he said quietly. Kai went quiet at that.

"B-but-"

"What are you so afraid of, Kai?" he asked, turning to look her in the eye.

Kai shrank back and looked away. What was she afraid of? What did he mean what was she afraid of? "I...I don't understand..."

He looked back out over the entry platform. Kai noted that Kimi had disappeared.

"I'm afraid if you don't get serious, we'll have to make some hard decisions."

Kai shrank in on herself a little at that. "I don't want to go..." She looked at his hard, calloused hands gripping the stone of the parapet. She had walked in on him changing his clothes one day, had seen the scars he tried to hide with long sleeved shirts and jackets, the ones that covered his arms and crisscrossed his torso. There was even one that snaked up the side of his neck that, if the rest of it was hidden under his clothes, was hardly noticeable as a scar. Battle scars. Ugly. He had obviously been through a lot, but...

"What are you afraid of?" she asked, almost jumping as she realized she had spoken aloud. "I-I'm sorry! I didn't-"

"Lots of things," he said quietly. "Losing my friends, losing this place, losing control of myself..." He trailed off for a moment, looking out over the platform again. "But mostly, letting you guys down."

Kai blinked. "What do you mean?"

"Something's coming, something big," he said. "I don't know what it is, yet, but..." He shuddered, closing his eyes. "I get the feeling it's very important, and you guys have something to do with it-"

"I think that's enough, Max-sensei," came a new voice from behind them. Kai whirled around to see an unfamiliar girl her age standing there. "Your method is not going to work."

"Do I know you?" Kai asked, cocking her head to the side. The girl just gave her a blank look, then looked at the teacher. Kai took the opportunity to try and figure out where she had seen her before. The glasses, the orange hair, that expression that showed little more than a sad sort of boredom and occasional hints of exasperation...wait. Wait! No way, no freaking way...! Take off the glasses, get rid of the occasional bit of acne, fix up the hair, the shape of her face... "Chiu-sama?"

The girl looked her in the eye, and Kai's breath caught in her throat. The girl's gaze was _heavy_, nothing like in the pictures on her website.

"That is one of my names."

"Chisame," Max said, not even bothering to turn around to look at the girl. "How are you?"

"Fine," Chisame said sharply.

Kai looked back and forth between the two of them and started to back away. "Um...I think I'll just go now-"

"No, you should stay." Max's gruff voice cut her off. "So which one is _she _from?" he asked Chisame. Kai shrank back a little from the bitterness in his voice.

"Several of them, actually," Chisame replied, not even bothering to look at her. "The White Oni plays a pretty big part, no matter how you look at the situation."

Kai started to back away quickly then. They knew her secret! Her horrible, dirty, disgusting secret...!

"Chisame?" Max asked, still staring out over the entry platform so far below.

Chisame said a few quick words under her breath and Kai jerked to a halt, frozen in place. Chisame put her hands on her hips and strolled over shaking her head and muttering to herself. Kai caught the tail end of it, something that sounded like '-same thing happens every freaking time-'

Chisame stopped in front of her and looked her in the eye, and suddenly all the weight of her gaze came crashing down on Kai. She would have collapsed under that weight had she not been frozen in place. "You are the so-called White Oni, and you have a big part to play in the near future."

Kai wanted to run, but couldn't.

"Believe it or not, _you_ are one of the most important keys to our success. If you don't take this training seriously, _the world will end, and it will be your fault_."

Chisame moved her hand and Kai found herself suddenly able to move. She was stunned to find herself weak in the knees and fell to a seated position on the rooftop. "B..." She tried to speak, but couldn't. What the hell? "H-how am I s-supposed to react t-to that? It's a joke, r-right?" she demanded almost frantically, her voice going high at the end. Max just looked at her, then turned to look back out over the parapet again. The other girl knelt down beside her and put a hand on her shoulder.

"I know how it sounds, but it's true. The future of the world, from here on, is dependent on a little over five thousand people playing their roles perfectly. If any one of them fails, the world will collapse."

"...collapse?"

"Yes. It will collapse, the world will see its doom, Armageddon, Ragnarok, the apocalypse, do you understand? Not the end of the world as we know it, _but the actual end of the world itself._ Nothing left, just a blackened rock floating in space until space collapses too."

"I-I-I don't know what y-you're-"

"Shut up. Pay attention," Chisame said, not without affection. "It's about timelines, okay? Do you understand about timelines?" Kai just blinked at her, and Chisame sighed. This was going to take _all day_...

* * *

_**Author's Notes**: Oh, there's that pesky plot again. So, now there are two groups of students undergoing training. We've got the Taro/Kagami/Sachiko/Possum team which is very much physical combat-based, and now the Aiko/Kai/Mako/Gin/Kimi team, which while not dedicated to support, has much less focus on pummeling opponents into submission with bare fists. I wonder how a fight would go? And wow, nice job Chisame. Way to traumatize the poor oni girl. But anyway, most of this chapter just occurred to me a few days ago, and I realized it was pretty much necessary. Unfortunately, it made the chapter over double the length of most of the other chapters, so I had to split it in half. You'll get what was originally intended as Chapter 19 next week. For now, I hope you enjoy getting to know these characters a little more.  
_


	22. Ch 20 Training and Reiko's House Pt 1

**_Still Waters 3, Chapter 20, Reiko's House Part 1_**

* * *

After fourteen days of training for the group of students training under the P.E. teacher Max Linell, Negi arrived in the resort, with Asuna and Nodoka flanking him.

"Hello?" Negi called out as he shifted the cardboard box he was carrying to a more comfortable position. "Is anybody here?" He waited a moment, but no one responded.

"Guess not," Asuna said, looking around. It felt weird, without Chachamaru's sisters here to greet them. They had all been sent over to Hakase's lab for testing. Something about updating their hardware with new components for solar ray collectors or something. Asuna didn't quite get it, but with no birds or things living there and without the friendly robots the resort was left eerily silent, sort of like a school after all the students have left.

"They must be in one of the other areas," Nodoka said when the echoes had died down. "They must have lost track of time..."

"Yes, you are probably right," Negi said as he turned toward the castle entrance. "You two go ahead to the living quarters, I'll take care of this..." he said, trudging off toward the castle. Asuna glanced sharply at Nodoka and tilted her head toward Negi; Nodoka nodded and ran off after him.

"No, we can let Asuna take care of our things; I'll help you set up."

Asuna remained in place, watching them, until the big doors of the castle slammed shut, hiding them from view. She sighed. "Come on Negi, think a little," she grumbled under her breath. After what had happened to Reiko, this was no time to leave the kid by himself... She paused. "Well I guess he isn't really a kid anymore, is he?" 'No way. He's gotta be what...' she paused for a moment to calculate his actual age, including time spent in Eva's resort. 'He should be around nineteen now...? And that makes me...' She paused to calculate again. 'Twenty-two...?' "Huh..." she said aloud as she looked down at herself. She had never really thought about it before, but she certainly did look as if she had said goodbye to her teenage years some time ago. 'In a good way!' she added quickly. Come to think of it, Misa must have spent at least as much time in the resort as she had, Nodoka and Yue too. Asuna had spent the most time there by far during her school years, before she went to Kyoto with Konoka and Setsuna. For a while there, she had spent all her free time there. Most of the others had been satisfied with practicing in the woods, but Asuna had found that she couldn't really let herself go all out in the outside world; there was always the chance of a child or someone wandering into the wrong place at the wrong time and getting hurt...

She shook it off and headed for the teleporters. "Might as well get a look at the new ones in action."

* * *

"It's fine, come at me again."

Kondo Kai looked at her shoes, the ground, the storage shed for magic targets over to the right, the puffy clouds that hung statically in the fake sky above, the trees, to the spot where the other girls were practicing on the other side of the field, and finally, after running out of things to look at, Max sensei. "I really don't-"

He sighed again. The poor girl looked shellshocked, after that bomb Chisame had dropped on her yesterday. He focused his attention on the girl standing in front of him, too indecisive to act, and sighed a third time. This was getting _very_ annoying... "Hey." She jerked and looked up at him again, eyes wide and fearful. He knew it wasn't fear of him, but instead fear of what might happen if she actually _did_ try to hit him. It was a little insulting, actually. "Come on, hit me."

"A-are you sure?"

Max smirked unpleasantly. "Come on. What's the matter, scared?" She didn't respond, and he frowned. Time to change tack.

* * *

Kai's eyes skittered over to the side. Of course she was scared! What if she _really did_ hit him? He would get hurt real bad, he might even die! She had seen others like her fighting with humans before; when an oni hit a human, things went messy fast. She shivered as she recalled one particularly disturbing incident before she made it to Mahora, when her uncle had been surrounded and-

He moved fast, but she was an oni and reacted more quickly than any normal girl could have to avoid his fist. She twisted out of the way and stepped straight into his second attack, a backhanded blow that made her head ring. She staggered back a few steps but he didn't give her any time to recover, and followed up swinging.

Kai scrambled back, doing her best to keep him from landing a hit, but she had no idea what to do. She ducked to the side to avoid another blow to the head, and stepped straight into a knee to the stomach that drove the breath from her lungs as she doubled over. He darted in close, put his right leg behind her, grabbed her shoulder, and neatly threw her to the ground. She let out a breathless, echo-y grunt as she was slammed down, and opened her eyes to see his fist hovering mere inches from her face with her arm pinned to the ground between elbow and wrist by one knee and his other knee on her chest, making breathing more difficult than it already was.

"And what would you have done if I had really been trying to kill you?"

Kai just lay there in the dirt, gasping for air as she tried to comprehend what had just happened. It had all been so fast...! From the moment he took his first swing to the moment she was slammed to the ground, less than four seconds had passed. She tried to heave herself up, but he just shifted his weight to stay balanced. She tried to wriggle free, but it was no use. She stopped wriggling and scowled at him. And then all at once, it struck her. Her left arm was still free...he had left her left arm free...! She twisted under his knee as best she could, was pleasantly surprised to see the surprised look in his eyes as he tried to compensate, too late, and she brought her left fist up and toward the side of his head. It was rough, it was clumsy, and he easily blocked it with his forearm, but the impact resonated through both of them and she jerked to the side, knocking him off balance again enough to free her right arm. He tried to jump back, but her hands hit his chest hard and suddenly he was flying through the air and hitting the ground and she was scrambling toward him, crying out "Max-sensei! Max-sensei!"

She paused on hands and knees a few feet away from him, horrified at what she had done. "M...Max-sensei...? Are you, uh, are you...still alive?" He sat up so suddenly she screamed.

"Ugh...now that's more like it," he said as he shook his head to clear it and stood up. He looked down at her where she sat, staring at him with her mouth open. "What?"

"B-but I killed you...!"

He cocked an eyebrow. "You think I'll die _that_ easily? I don't know what planet you're on, but I'm a little tougher than that," he said as he glanced over at the other girls, who were now running toward them across the field.

"But-"

"You're fast and strong, and that's good. Agile, too. But any real fighter could beat you in seconds, the way you are now," he said, shaking his head and slapping the dust from his clothes. He offered his hand and pulled her to her feet.

Kai slumped a little and looked off to the side. "I thought I hurt you..." She jumped when he clapped a hand on her shoulder, and turned to look up at him.

"Don't worry about it. Being strong is nothing to be ashamed of. It just means you have to learn to control your strength, and you can't do that if you never take the time to learn your limits." He turned to inspect the other girls as they finally arrived, Mako Sylvester trailing after the other three. "That goes for all of you. You are all involved in this whether you like it or not, and you have made enemies who won't be so easy to defeat next time."

"The next time?" Aiko asked. "What do you mean? We beat them already, right?" Max gave her a look and she went quiet.

"Did you kill them? Did you lock them up? Did you make it so they could never come after you again?" he asked pointedly.

"Well...no, but-"

"But nothing. You girls fought two adult youkai and one child, from two very powerful tribes. You're lucky you're not being fished out of a reservoir right now," he said, knowing he had said the wrong thing as he watched their faces go pale.

Kai gulped. She hadn't thought about it _that_ way. She had known youkai were dangerous of course, you had to be either stupid or not know about the rest of reality to not know something like _that_. But she hadn't thought about any of them trying to follow them back to Mahora for revenge...she shivered again and looked around warily.

"Relax, they won't be able to come in here," Max said as he turned around and walked face first into Asuna's fan.

"Ow," Max said from his new position on the ground while Asuna shook her head and sighed.

"Abeat. Idiot, you can't treat a girl like that," she said, glaring at him. "But like it or not, the idiot's got a point," Asuna said, facing the girls as she tucked her pactio card into a back pocket of her shorts. "They could trail you to this town, true. You guys and Sachiko _did_ humiliate them, after all. It's not the sort of thing to be taken lightly among youkai, especially from a bunch of humans. It all depends on what the leader thinks is most important at the moment. Now come on, let's go back to the entry platform," she said as she turned and stepped over the teacher lying supine on the ground.

"Er...wait a second, please," Aiko said.

Asuna turned back to face the girl. "Yes? What is it?"

"...who are you?"

* * *

Asuna led the group out onto the entry platform of the resort just in time to catch Taro, Sachiko, Possum, and Kagami's arrival.

"Heya sempai," Taro said, nodding to Asuna, who smirked and bobbed her head back at the other girl. "So they got you guys too, huh?" Taro stated as she put her hands on her hips and circled the new girls, stopping in front of Sato, who locked eyes with her. Brown eyes met bright green and both girls frowned.

"What?" Gin asked.

Taro's frown deepened. "Nothing," she said through clenched teeth. Something about the white haired girl just _bothered_ her...

"Ahem!" Everyone turned to the speaker.

"If everyone will follow me?" Negi asked politely. He turned and strolled toward the castle's front entrance.

* * *

Inside the castle's great hall, Taro was surprised to find over a dozen people waiting in lines on both sides of the room; most were women, and she had seen all of them around Mahora at one point or another recently. Much to Taro's surprise, Takahata-sensei and Seruhiko-sensei were both present. The P.E. teacher Max-sensei had said something about Takahata being a mage before, but she had had no idea Seruhiko was one too...! Makie-sensei was there too, smiling brightly and looking as if she might cry. The other adults were about the same age as Makie; all of them looked to be in their early twenties at the latest, and they all looked like normal people; nothing like the way she had imagined mages would be. One of 'em with a sideways ponytail she remembered seeing around the resort was even wearing a tank top and shorts...! She spotted Eva lounging around in a big chair on a raised platform on the far end of the room, but turned away when the petite blonde scowled at her.

Negi moved to stand at the near end of the long table in the center of the room and coughed to get everyone's attention. He looked at them proudly. "You have all been thrust into dangerous and unfamiliar situations, and you have done well. You have my congratulations. You have all shown a refreshing willingness to learn in this difficult situation and now is the time to move on to the next step. Everyone, it is time to give you your wands"

Taro looked at him curiously. 'Give you your wands'? What did he mean by that? She still had the collapsible practice wand in her back pocket... She felt too awkward to ask about in front of all these strangers, though, so she kept quiet and Negi started speaking again.

"Kagami-san already has one, but the rest of you come up as I call you and choose one from the box," Negi said, gesturing to a cardboard box placed on the end of the table behind him. "Abe-san."

Aiko gulped and walked nervously up to the box and looked inside. Taro watched closely as Aiko reached in and fumbled around. What she brought out of the box looked ridiculous, kind of like something from some magical girl anime; Taro got a good look at it as the other girl held it reverently. It was a little longer than the practice wand Taro had in her back pocket, bright green, and had a yellow flower shape on the end.

"Are you finished, Abe-san?" Negi asked.

"Yes sensei," Aiko said and rejoined the other students.

Negi called them up one by one, and each got a wand. Kimi got one with an arrowhead shape, Sato chose a clover, the class rep picked a star, Mako got a spoked wheel, Kondo got a wing, and Possum got one with a spade shape, like the card suite. Urashima Taro was the last one up, and as such was stuck with the last wand, a pink one with a heart on the end.

Taro just stood there for a moment, staring at the wand she held. "What the hell is _this_?" she shrieked.

Yuuna, standing nearby in her tank top and shors, laughed out loud.

"That is your wand," Negi said, straining hard to keep his serious expression from cracking. A heart…that was just too good. And pink, too! "Take good care of it, a good wand is expensive. Now," he said, speaking to the students as a whole. "Now everyone, congratulations."

* * *

"And that's how you do a basic fire spell _right_," Kagami said, puffing her chest out as most of the other students applauded politely. Negi couldn't help but smile at the sight. Kagami had finally begun opening up to the others since she became involved in the dangerous world of magic. It was a good thing, too...he had begun to be afraid she would never bond with her classmates. Now if only he could get Taro to stop being so offended at every little thing...his thoughts were interrupted when Yuuna suddenly burst into laughter.

"What was _that_?" Yuuna asked between bursts of laughter.

"What? What are you laughing at?" Kagami demanded, her pride bruised.

"Yeah it was nice, but it was just so, so plain!" Yuuna said, grinning to take the sting from her words. It didn't work.

"Oh? Since you're not doing much else, Yuuna, would you show them the proper way to do it?" Negi asked. He could feel his eyebrow twitching. She did this _every time_.

"Sure thing, Negi!" Yuuna said energetically as she slipped down from the rock she had been perched upon. Negi had a sudden thought that this might not have been a good idea, but it was too late now.

"So, class!" Yuuna said, whipping out her old wand, which had a star on the end. "I dug this thing out of my dad's closet last night, so pay attention!" She assumed a suitably imposing stance, looked forebodingly at the students, puffed her chest out, and said in a loud voice: "Practe Bigi Nar, Aldescat!"

An enormous fireball burst into existence and streaked off into the sky.

Negi sweatdropped and wiped the soot from his face. Apparently, ten feet away had been too close.

"Huhuhu," Yuuna said, smoking and slightly singed. "And _that_ is how you do _that_!"

"…eh..." Kagami said as she blinked, looking decidedly sunburnt.

"That was a bit…"

"…yeah…"

There was a general muttering among the students, though Taro looked excited.

"That was amazing! How did you do that? It was _awesome_!"

"Wasn't it though?" Yuuna asked. "Hey the rest of you, you should all be complimenting your sempai!" she said to the others. "Hey!"

"Whoa now, that brings back some bad memories," Max said as he strolled up with Akira and his mage, Jennifer.

"Heya Max-sensei, Jennifer. Come on Akira, show these kids how its done!" Yuuna said.

"Oooh, they're cute! Aren't they cute, Negi-kun? Jennifer asked as she eyed the young students.

The afternoon descended into madness as Negi's friends and old students began to arrive in bunches; luckily, Satsuki showed up and whipped up a feast for two hundred people with little apparent difficulty. It was delicious.

* * *

After dinner, Negi went outside and sat on a rock to watch what Eva jokingly referred to as 'the sunset'; in reality it was simply the excess magic of the day being collected and reclaimed by the dome, which directed a large amount into the magic batteries that ran the modern conveniences in the resort. It was quite an efficient system, though when the batteries were full, the excess magical energy would be bled off into the real world. Of course, Eva being no fool and Hakase being a genius, this energy was collected in a similar way in the real world as it was in the resort, and was the source of the power that ran the modern conveniences in Eva's home and her secret storage facility as well as lending additional power to some of Mahora's more secretive facilities. Negi liked to sit on his rock and forget about all that, however, and just enjoy the pretty swirls of color in the sky...it was always a nice way to end a day of hard training.

"Is there room for two?"

Negi looked down at the speaker, amused. "Sure," he said, extending a hand to help her up. When Akira was seated comfortably beside him, he smiled. "They remind me of my first class," he said, nodding toward the new students, who had gathered to see the sunset. They were talking and arguing and trying all sorts of things with little to no success except for Kagami, who, thanks to Misa's 'teaching', had had prior experience with this level of spell.

Akira smiled. "Yes." They sat in silence for a time. "How is Reiko-san? They wouldn't let me visit her, and I couldn't find anyone who knew…"

Negi's good mood nearly evaporated. He knew there was nothing he could have done from Eva's resort, but such grievous injury to an ally and friend rankled. And Reiko had always insisted on hanging around him so she had become a fixture in his life, almost as much so as Asuna had until she ran off to Kyoto. Reiko had become sort of a replacement Asuna...he grimaced at the thought. That thought was just...it was just _wrong_ on so many levels.

"She's…stable. They stopped the infection just in time, but it took a lot out of her. She's never been strong, you know…" his voice trailed off as he gazed up into the sky. The whole situation brought a lot of things to light. Reiko was the first of his friends to be injured so badly since his whole village was turned to stone; if one of his friends could be hurt when he had become so powerful, then what was the point of gaining all this power? If he couldn't do anything even as was now... It was something he had known in a logical way, but the shock of having one of his friends almost die while he was powerless to do anything about it had hit him hard, and he had found his eyes drifting over his former and current students and his other friends from time to time ever since he found out about Reiko, evaluating how their deaths might affect him even as he hated himself for the thought.

"That's true," Akira said after a moment as she looked up at the sky, and Negi snapped back to reality. "Reiko-san has never been strong."

"What's this, taking a romantic moment to watch the sunset with Negi-kun?" Misa asked as she plopped down between them on the rock and threw an arm around both of them. "Heh, you guys are so cute~"

Akira rolled her eyes and smiled a little, and Negi couldn't help but snort laughter while Misa grinned at him. "No, it's not like that at all," he said pleasantly.

"Then how is it?"

Akira made a slight smile and slid down the side of the rock. "I have to find Max and Jennifer. Bye!"

Negi waved as Misa scooted over to give him more space. They watched Akira walking away for a moment before turning their attention back to the sunset.

"So, how long have you been flirting with Akira-chan? Max won't be happy to find out you're edging in on his territory, you know~"

"You girls never change, do you?" he asked as he leaned back.

Misa smirked and shook her head. "Where would the fun in _that_ be?"

Negi barked a short laugh. Ah, good old 3-A. True, they could be irritating at times, but he hoped they would never change.

* * *

The next morning brought about groans of pain from many of the ex-students as their hangovers made themselves known. The newer students and those who were still too young or unwilling to drink moved around quietly to keep from waking the others, many of whom were sleeping in unusual positions in various states of undress.

Taro rubbed her aching head as she stumbled down the hall away the bathroom, carefully stepping around Yuuna, who was curled up on the floor with a blanket she appeared to have fallen asleep kissing. 'Ugh...I won't ever drink again!' she swore to herself. Last night had been...well...how _had_ it been? She found she couldn't really recall anything specific past the point where someone had shoved a bottle of sake into her hand. It was weird...really really weird, she thought. She made her way down the hall toward the common room, rubbing her aching head, and opened the door. The sight that greeted her was horrendous.

The common room was a mess. Trash was strewn around everywhere, several tables and chairs were overturned, and bodies were lying haphazardly where they had fallen. It looked like the scene of a violent rampage...except for the various snores and moans of the extremely drunk when morning has finally rolled around and assaulted their senses with brilliant sunlight and the deafening sounds of those who had abstained as they tried to move around quietly.

"Taro," someone said quietly.

She glanced around, trying to locate the source of the voice.

"Over here."

Here eyes drifted over to the corner of the room, then quickly skated away, unwilling to see what she knew was there, unable to unsee what she had seen.

"Taro, if you don't come over here and help me now, I'm going to suggest that Eva take a personal interest in your training."

Taro gulped and forced herself to face the speaker again.

Max-sensei sat in the corner with a strange woman on either side of him, clinging tightly to him. Both were asleep; the short one on the right was drooling on his shirt and the taller one on the left seemed to be squeezing him around the torso. Judging by the expression on his face, it must have hurt. A lot. Maybe even as much as her brain was hurting at that moment as it tried and failed to comprehend what was happening. Her eyes skittered away. What the hell was this? No, WHAT the _HELL_ was _THIS?_ Max-sensei? And...and two...her stomach lurched. Two women? Come to think of it, she had seen the trio arrive together yesterday, but...surely they didn't have _that_ sort of relationship? Max was an American, right? The drooling woman was a foreigner too, and they _did_ always say Americans didn't care so much about appearances, right? Just a mistake, right? She cut off that line of thought before it could go anywhere else.

"Help me out here, okay? I'll...I'll give you something. What do you want?"

Taro thought about it for a moment, but her thinking was still slow and muddy and she couldn't really think of anything she wanted. "I don't know...er...I'll think of something later?"

"Fair enough. Now help me."

Taro frowned as she approached and realized why the teacher hadn't been able to free himself. The taller one was pinning one arm with her bear hug, while the shorter one appeared to be lying on his other arm. She sighed as she knelt down, wobbled a bit, and took the drooling woman by the shoulders. She pulled her away from the teacher as carefully as she could, and the woman pouted in her sleep. She blearily opened her eyes, not really seeing anything, and leaned toward Taro.

"Mmm...'kira-chan..."

Taro jerked back as the drunk woman leaned in for a hug and fell to the floor, giggling lightly. She began snoring a moment later.

"Um..."

"I'll take care of her. Here, now Akira," Max said as he began moving his free arm to restore circulation.

Taro nodded and set about trying to figure out what to do about _this_ one.

* * *

Some time later, Taro was making her way toward the kitchen when she turned a corner and came upon Kagami standing in a doorway, looking inside a darkened room with a rapt expression. "Hey," Taro said.

When it became obvious Kagami hadn't heard her, Taro reached out and put a hand on the other girl's shoulder. "Hey."

Kagami jumped, gave a quick, shamed glance at Taro, and walked away as quickly as she could without actually breaking into a run, unable to hide her luminescent blush.

"Okay, good morning to you too," she said sarcastically as she moved to see what had had Kagami so bent out of shape. She looked through the doorway into what appeared to be some sort of mostly unused storage room filled with stacks of old dusty crates, cobwebs, and unused furniture. She blinked. The storage room was only _mostly_ unused, as evidenced by half a dozen large (and now empty) bottles of some alcoholic beverage as well as the two occupants; Taro recognized them of course. One was Kagami's teacher, Misa, and the other one was one of the other women that hung around with her all the time. She thought her name might be Madoka. The two of them were clinging to each other in a dead sleep, with Madoka's face buried in Misa's chest. Taro shut the door, turned around briskly, and walked the other way.

* * *

Noon found the drunkards awake and moving around shamefully, unable to meet each others' eyes for the most part.

For the most part.

Yuuna was extolling the virtues of alcohol while imbibing yet again at the outdoor table where several of the newer students had been eating lunch.

"Hey," Taro said after a moment's pause while Yuuna searched for an unopened beer can.

"Ah! There you are..." Yuuna said as she found the last one and popped it open. "Now then, what did you say?" she said, grinning at Taro.

"Well..."

"Wow, this isn't like you," Kagami said sarcastically. Taro shot her a look and looked away. Even knowing Taro like she did now, the girl was still intimidating.

"What, embarrassed?" Yuuna asked cheekily.

"No! Well...yeah..."

"Come on, you can ask your big sis Yuuna anything!"

Taro glanced over at the occupants of another table, and the the others followed suit.

"Oooh, I see. You're wondering what's going on with Scary Max-sensei~" Yuuna said. Taro nodded. "Well, you see the one with the long hair? Pretty, isn't she? That's Okochi Akira, she's Max-sensei's live-in lover! And that short one over there," Yuuna said, pointing at Jennifer, "is Jennifer, Max-sensei's wife!" She paused for a moment. "I think. Maybe. I don't know for sure, but probably!"

"Wow..." Kagami said. Taro had simply gone pale, whether from horror or mental overload was uncertain.

"It's like our very own TV drama," Yuuna explained.

"It's not really like that," a soft spoken woman with short bluish hair said from where she sat at a shaded table nearby.

"Oh come on Honya-chan, they need a little excitement in their lives," Yuuna said; her grin went wide.

"Then how is it really?" Taro asked. She had seen this 'Honya-chan' arrive yesterday, but the woman seemed very quiet, and they hadn't spoken a word.

Nodoka smiled. "That's a secret."

* * *

Meanwhile, in an enormous and much-exaggerated example of gothic architecture in another world, a man crumpled the note he had just finished reading and poured himself a glass of fine wine so well aged that it had gone bad. He sipped it anyway from a gruesomely worked silver goblet while swishing around the room dramatically, his robes billowing in the motion of air created by his passage.

Lord Jonus Hart, well acquainted with the other vampire lord's dramatic displays of teeth-gnashing angst, ignored him while the man circled the excessively long table several times until he ran out of steam.

"You know, you could always just make another ghoul," Jonus pointed out when the other man finally stopped walking and lounged against the elaborately carved mantelpiece while holding his hand up to his forehead. It was a huge, heavy thing, and must have taken ages to carve.

"But Carrick was my best work, my masterpiece! And that barbarous Evangeline A.K. McDowell had the gall to render him asunder!"

Jonus sighed. "Look, Zeph, he will regenerate after a while and come back on his own. In the mean time, how do you plan to get her to join as your ally now that your servant acted like a fool and got himself killed? And by the way, it's 'rend', not 'render'."

The Great Vampire Lord Zeph Castor (he was big on formality), heaved a weary sigh and slumped tiredly into a large, heavy chair of some dark wood, carved with all manner of elaborate symbols, both arcane and macabre (he was big on spooky interior design, too). "Sir Alexander is applying pressure, and Lady Arturia supports him," Zeph said after a moment. "Much has changed since you were last here, Jonus. Would you like some wine?"

"I can see that," he replied. "And yes, I would like some. But old Sader is in with Sir Alexander? He had better be careful."

"Indeed. Woe will befall any who deal Arturia Sader wrongly," Zeph said forebodingly. He then cast a spell to summon a magical servant, which poured a glass of wine and carried it to Lord Jonus, who sat comfortably five feet away.

"Was that really necessary?" Jonus asked.

"I don't know what you are talking about," Zeph said quickly. "Perhaps you would do a favor for an old friend…?"

Jonus sighed. "You sure do ask a lot, don't you? What did you want me to do?"

* * *

Some nights later back on Earth, Endo Haru swiveled on her chair away from her unfortunately-still-unfinished homework to face her roommate Kagami, who was playing with her tiny playdoh cat, watching it chase after pieces of cereal.

"Hey, Kagami-chan…"

"Hmm?"

"So where are you going every day after school?"

Kagami spluttered and flailed and almost fell off her bed before she could regain her balance. "Nowhere! It's just after school training with Negi-sensei!"

"With Negi-sensei?" Haru asked, brightening considerably. "Can I come next time?"

"It's not like that…"

"Then how is it?"

Kagami looked at her roommate thoughtfully for a moment. 'It would be okay to tell her, right? I don't think she'd tell anyone else…' Whatever you might think of Endo Haru, she wasn't the sort to go spreading rumors; at least, not from what Kagami had seen. "Endo…really, it's about-" she was interrupted by someone knocking heavily on the door.

"Heeeey, Kagami, come out here," someone said from the other side of the door, bored exasperation obvious in her voice.

"Is that Taro-kun?" Haru asked, apparently shocked that the class bully would have anything to do with Kagami.

Kagami sighed. "Yes," she said as scooped up the tiny cat and put it away. She grabbed her coat and opened the door, revealing Taro on the other side with a baseball bat casually propped over her shoulder. Kagami paused and turned back to Haru. "I'll be back later, I'll call if I'm late."

Haru just sat there in the chair, her jaw dropped, as she tried to process the bizarre thing she had just seen.

* * *

"What is it, Taro-san? And why are you carrying that bat?" Kagami asked when the other girl lead her outside.

"Negi-sensei wants us to go check on Reiko-sempai's house."

"House? But isn't she a student? I thought they all had to live in the dorms in high school, right?"

Taro rolled her eyes, but explained anyway. "Apparently, it's because of her 'special status'. I guess they thought it'd be too dangerous to have an exorcist like her living in the dorms," Taro said as she pushed through the last door and stepped outside.

"Dangerous? What do you mean?"

"I don't know," Taro said. "That's just what Negi-sensei said." They continued on in an awkward silence until they left the campus and entered the city. From there, they continued on for another ten or fifteen minutes until Taro suddenly stopped and plopped down comfortably on a bench that had long ago been covered in graffiti. She crossed her arms and glowered at anyone who dared to look her way.

"…Taro-san?"

"We're supposed to wait here for the third person."

Kagami nodded and leaned against the side of the building. "It sure is getting hot, lately," she said after a moment in a feeble attempt to make conversation.

"Yeah…"

They lapsed into an awkward silence.

"So who are we waiting for?" Kagami asked a moment later.

"I don't know, Takahata wouldn't tell me," Taro replied irritably. She gave a passerby a baleful glare, and the man quickened his step. "Why can't they do this on their own? I had things I wanted to do, you know?"

Kagami mumbled something and nodded. It seemed like the sort of thing to do in this situation. She knew Taro had her dorm room to herself, but didn't know what the other girl could possibly want to do this late. A few minutes passed in silence, and Kagami found herself looking at Taro, really _looking_ at her. Taro, under her rough, forceful personality, was actually surprisingly attractive…no, beautiful. If one were to remove the band aid on her chin and the one on her cheek and do a bit of touch-up here and there with some makeup, and dress her in some nice clothes…Taro leaned forward to fix her shoelace, and Kagami caught of glimpse of what looked like bandages wrapped around her chest. So she even wrapped her chest like some samurai or something? That wasn't healthy.

"What are you lookin at?" Taro demanded when she sat up and realized Kagami was staring.

"Taro-chan, you're beautiful," Kagami replied before she realized what she was saying.

"Wha…?"

"Um…am I interrupting something? I'm sorry I made you two wait so long," a woman said suddenly. "I'm sorry about that, someone tried to mug me."

Kagami hurriedly turned her attention to the newcomer. She was quite pretty; with her long black hair and slender yet athletic build, she doubtless had many followers. The modest long skirt and shirt combo she wore further cemented her 'nice young woman' vibe. "You're the one from the other day!"

Taro looked at Kagami blankly, then at the woman. "…who? Oh! You're Max-sensei's lover!"

Kagami just looked at her for a moment, stunned at the girl's…thoughtlessness? Ignorance? Stupidity? She decided it was stupidity. She took Taro's arm and dragged her away for a moment. "(What the hell is wrong with you?)" she whispered fiercely, forgetting in the heat of the moment just who it was she was yelling/whispering at.

Taro blinked stupidly at her, then blushed fiercely when she realized what she had said. "(I said that out loud, didn't I?)" she whispered.

Kagami nodded, and Taro's whole face went red.

"(Now just keep your mouth shut and let's get this over with,)" Kagami whispered. Taro, still mortified at what she had said, just nodded and followed Kagami as she went back over to Akira, who seemed to be pretending she hadn't heard Taro's question.

"I am Mochizuki Kagami," Kagami said politely. "And this is Urashima Taro. We are two of Negi-sensei's students. Please take care of us," she finished, and then bowed, dragging Taro down with her.

"Er…I am Okochi Akira, a former student of Negi-sensei. Pleased to meet you," Akira said, finishing up with a bow of her own.

With all of that mess over with, Kagami took the chance to give Akira a quick look. Was she really Scary Max-sensei's lover? She seemed too…too…pretty. And nice. And cultured. And Japanese. Not to mention the fact that she didn't seem the type to go around beating people up. None of these were things Kagami associated with the big, scary P.E. teacher. True, Akira-san was tall for a Japanese woman, but…

"Shall we go?" Akira said, catching Kagami by surprise. Taro nodded and propped her baseball bat on her shoulder, and the three set off with Akira leading the way.

"Um…Akira-san?" Kagami asked when they had stopped for the fourth time to look at the directions Akira had been given.

"Yes?" Akira asked pleasantly. Again, Kagami was struck by the sense of warmth and gentleness the woman exuded. She just _had_ to know…!

"Is…is it true that you're Max-sensei-Ow!"

"(Idiot! What happened to not asking her that?)" Taro whispered fiercely while Kagami rubbed her sore head.

Akira gave the two of them a considering look. "Okay, what is going on?" She turned on her Sempai Power, as Kagami found herself thinking of it, and suddenly the two girls found themselves feeling ashamed.

"Well…I guess it's silly," Kagami said after a moment.

"Silly? Then there's no harm, right? What is it?" Akira asked pleasantly.

Taro and Kagami looked at each other, then at Akira.

"Well…" Kagami began.

"Is it true you're Max-sensei's lover?" Taro blurted out. Kagami nodded

Akira froze; there was no pretending she had misheard the girl this time. And then an amazing thing happened. First, the color drained from her face, leaving her skin pale and lifeless. Then, as if her head had become a pitcher being filled with punch, her face went red from the bottom up and she staggered backward and sideways as her face got redder and redder.

"Er…Akira-san?" Kagami asked carefully.

It seemed to take every last ounce of effort she could dredge up, but Akira pulled herself together. "I-I th-think it's this way," she said, walking off down a random side street and bouncing off of a wall or two on the way. Then she tripped over a curb.

"Idiot, you broke her," Kagami said, jabbing an elbow into Taro's side.

"Well how was I supposed to know?" Taro replied, glaring at her.

* * *

"Oh wow, did you see that? I wonder what they did to her," Asuna whispered.

"Heh, poor Akira-chan~" Kazumi whispered back, grinning wide.

The two of them had been tasked with following Akira, Taro, and Kagami and provide support if necessary. The thought being, of course, that even though Reiko seemed to know what she was doing, confining ghosts and spirits and such, there was a chance that something might have heard she had been injured and set out to attack her at home. It was highly unlikely, and Asuna didn't really know what she would be expected to do against a ghost, but… 'Someone probably just wants to use us to laugh at Kagami-chan and Taro-kun,' Asuna thought. Kazumi was getting everything on camera via her pactio drones, so her idea was probably right. Oh well...it might be fun to torture them with it later.

Kazumi poked her arm. "Asuna, we've got a problem."

"What is it?" Asuna asked, moving in close to see the tiny screen Kazumi was watching.

"See this? If they keep going at this speed, these four guys here are going to end up right behind them."

Asuna sighed. "It's fine. Taro can take care of herself, and Akira and Kagami should be fine too. You know how strong they are."

Kazumi gave her a disbelieving look. "You think I'm worried about _those_ three? A girl who takes to magic like it's second nature, a violent streetfighter who's beaten up _everybody_, and little miss squish-you-with-a-city-sized-ball-of-water? Are you _serious_?"

Asuna slumped. "Oh….crap. You're right. Should we go ahead and call an ambulance for those four?"

"No…let's just send Setsuna."

* * *

Setsuna glanced out of the alley she was currently hiding in with Konoka and nodded even though she was speaking on a cell phone and Asuna couldn't see the gesture. "I understand. I will call back after." She flipped her phone shut and turned to Konoka; or, rather, where Konoka had been a moment earlier. "Konoka? Konoka!" she whispered loudly. This was bad, those four punks were almost at their position now…!

"Oh~ hello! My, what strange costumes you're all wearing," Konoka said from out in the street.

Setsuna went pale as she looked out and saw the four…oddly dressed…punks standing around Konoka. They towered over her and knew how to use their height to better advantage in the practice of intimidation, but she smiled brightly and innocently at them anyway.

"…spurs?" Setsuna found herself asking the empty alleyway. Why on earth was that one guy wearing spurs? The leather and chains and whatnot was to be expected; the shoulder pads were admittedly rather strange, but spurs? She started moving through the deeper shadows to the mouth of the alley, but Konoka gave her a look, and she stopped. She knew Konoka was extremely frustrated about Reiko, the general inability of magic to cure disease, and most definitely the fact that she couldn't do anything but stall the infection and keep it from spreading, but Setsuna hadn't expected her to do something like this...! She suddenly felt very, very bad for the four thugs.

"Hey little girl, why don't you come with us? We'll show you a good time," Spurs said in what he probably thought was a seductive voice. It wasn't.

Konoka smiled sweetly at him. "A good time?" Setsunsa shivered. She knew what that smile meant...

"Heh heh heh, you don't know just how good," another one said. Konoka made a face and moved back slightly. His breath was very bad and garlicky.

"Ooooh, I think I see what you mean," Konoka said in exaggerated tones of cuteness.

Setsuna felt her mouth go dry. Oh no…

"Yeah, just come with us, we've got some _candy_," Shoulderpads said, waggling his unibrow in an incredibly amusing way.

If anything, Konoka's smile widened. "I see! I know _just _what kind of people you are!" She opened her eyes and looked at them, and any trace of cuteness was suddenly gone as if it had never been there in the first place. "A bunch of perverts."

The four punks stopped dead, completely taken aback by the sudden change in the girl's demeanor.

"H-hey! You can't call us something like that…?" Garlic Breath said, unintentionally raising his tone at the end to make it seem like a question.

"Can't I?" Konoka asked as she drew a bundle of scallions from some hidden pocket. "If the four of you can't do anything to protect yourselves, then I can do whatever I want, correct? That's the way you do things, isn't it? And since you four big strong men are so perverted, I think that deserves something _special_," she said, smiling sweetly again as she gave the bundle of scallions an experimental swish through the air. Somehow, it was incredibly disturbing. "I learned this little trick from an old friend of mine!"

She advanced, and they backed away.

* * *

Akira had just stopped them to look at the map again when they heard an unearthly cry from several blocks away.

"Nnnoooooooooo….!"

"What was that?" Kagami blurted out as Taro and Akira moved to defensive positions.

"I don't kn-"

"WHAAArrrrghgh..." The cry degenerated into gurgling.

"Be careful, that one sounded closer," Akira said softly as she drew out a pactio card.

"NONONONO! OH GOD, NOOOOOooooooAAAAHHHAGGHHHHGh"

This anguished cry was followed by the sound of something knocking over a bunch of trashcans perhaps a block away.

"GYAAAHHAAAAAAHAAAAAA….! OH GOD NO, NOOOO-"

Akira, Taro, and Kagami shrank back into the shadows when the latest scream cut off abruptly, and stayed as quiet as they could. After a moment, the silence was broken by the sound of running footsteps and…some jingling noise?

Abruptly, a half naked guy with a bright green and pink mohawk ran by them and, upon spotting them, started screaming at the top of his lungs as he went.

"…spurs?" Kagami asked, curious and disturbed by what she had seen.

"What was he saying?" Taro asked.

"Something about onions?" Akira said hesitantly. "Anyway, it doesn't involve us," she said as she put her pactio card back in her pocket and unfolded the map. "Hmm… I see what happened; we were supposed to turn left back there…"

* * *

Asuna wiped the sweat from her forehead. "I…I don't know what to say…"

Kazumi's hands shook violently. "I-I-I don't know what you're talking about," she said as she shuddered. The horror…the horror!

"Konoka has become terrifying."

The two of them looked at each other for a moment.

"I think it will be for the best if we delete this," Asuna said in a measured tone as she surreptitiously checked her pants. 'Phew, I'm good.'

"Delete this? Delete what? I don't know what you're talking about," Kazumi said frantically as she deleted The Video Of Horror from her artifact. "See? There's nothing there! Nothing!" she said, holding the device out for Asuna to see. Sure enough, there was no evidence left.

"Good job! Do you know any place around here that sells bleach?" Asuna asked.

"No. Why? Do you need to clean some clothes?" Kazumi asked, desperate to latch on to anything to avoid thinking about that terrible scene. The scallions…the scallions…!

"No, I need it for my brain," Asuna said and gave another shudder.

* * *

"Here we are," Akira said pleasantly enough as she looked up at the house. It was a three-story affair that would have been quite nice, she thought, when it was first built back in 1954. But at present it was very shabby, with peeling paint, gutters hanging down, and a yard that consisted of a one meter wide strip of dead brown grass and mud between the house and the equally run down buildings on either side.

They went up to the door and Taro reached for the doorknob, but Akira stopped her.

"What gives?" Taro demanded.

"This is Reiko-san's house, remember? She set some traps," Akira said. She reached into a pocket and drew out what looked to be a keychain with a little lego man attached, but no keys. She held the small figure up to the doorknob. There was a brief flash of light, and Akira put the toy back in her pocket.

"…why a lego man?" Kagami asked curiously.

"You might as well ask Reiko-san why she does _anything_ she does," Akira replied. "Anyway, it has some sort of enchantment on it; she uses it as a key."

"Oh…"

Kagami and Taro stood back and waited while Akira carefully opened the door and peeked inside cautiously.

"It looks okay, let's go in," Akira said, leading the way.

Inside, the first floor was rather bland. An aging carpet covered the floor, and a few pieces of mismatched furniture that might have been found on street corners decorated the small room. Akira passed out flashlights and approached the first door on the left.

"Wait, can't we just turn on the lights?" Kagami asked suddenly.

Akira shook her head. "No, Reiko-san said she never got around to having the electricity turned on."

Kagami looked bewildered at that, but nodded.

The room to the left was simply a small kitchen. The three girls wandered around for a moment before Kagami opened the fridge and was greeted by a rush of cold air. "The fridge is working!"

Akira came over and pointed her flashlight at several small magic circles engraved in the sides of the fridge. "Magic circles. These are used to collect ambient power in the air and convert it to some other use. Normally, this kind is only used for things like powering large-scale curses or summoning rituals. It's just like Reiko-san to use such a thing to run a refrigerator," Akira finished, smiling sadly as her mind drifted back to Reiko's condition after the ghoul attack. "Her body is too weak to use spells normally, so she has to use things like this. But anyway, it doesn't look like anything is wrong here, let's check the next room."

What is the point of this?" Kagami suddenly asked. "I mean, it's only a house, right?"

"Well…there are a lot of things in here that could cause problems if they fell into the wrong hands," Akira said. "Sealed spirits, magic items, cursed items…Reiko-san has collected many things in her life." The group fell silent as they continued checking the rooms on the first floor, in which there was nothing of interest. It appeared that Reiko wasted little time on the first floor.

"Okay, let's check the basement next," Akira said as she tried the door. Strangely, it was locked, so she pulled out the lego man keychain and unsealed the door. The three girls shivered as they passed through perhaps half a dozen magical barriers protecting the room.

The basement, surprisingly, was fairly clean and in spite of the old, roughly used chairs, table, and bed, was quite homey. It had been swept recently, and the magic circles that had been engraved on the floor, walls, and ceiling were quite intricate.

"Looks like her bedroom," Taro said after a moment as she looked from the bed to the surprisingly girly waist-high chest of drawers with the big mirror on top. For the most part, it seemed fairly normal for a basement bedroom if one ignored the magic circles and a few odd things here and there. For one thing, where had Reiko found a copy of the Necronomicon? And the much-worn stuffed bunny rabbit that occupied the bed was completely out of character from what Taro knew of Reiko. Taro poked the stuffed bunny a few times with the end of her bat in case it was cursed or something, but nothing happened.

"Let's go upstairs, I don't like snooping around in her bedroom," Kagami said after a moment when nothing presented itself. Akira and Taro nodded, and they made their way up to the second floor.

"Someone's been here," Taro said roughly as she clutched her bat on the second floor landing. "Look at the dust."

"What do you mean?" Kagami asked. Akira shot her a serious look and Kagami went quiet as her eyes trailed down to the dust covered floor. Sure enough, there was a clear footprint of a shape so alien it took a moment to realize it was a footprint at all. The three girls entered the enormous room that made up the second floor and made their way through the tables and cupboards, which were filled with apparently random items, many of which fairly glowed with magic. They found no obvious signs of tampering, just the recently disturbed dust Taro had noticed upon entering. Finally, Akira motioned for them to head to the next floor.

As they climbed up the stairs, they heard something move around above. Taro took the lead and carefully opened the door at the top of the stairs. She made a strangled noise and Akira rushed in, leaving Kagami on the stairs.

"What's going on?" Kagami whispered. There was no response, so she hesitantly went up the final few stairs and peeked around the edge of the door.

The only thing she could do was scream.

* * *

**Omake**

Konoka found Setsuna shaking in the alleyway, her eyes wide and blank, staring at nothing. "The scallions…the scallions…," she said over and over again.

"Secchan~"

"The scallions…"

"Hey Secchan, do you want to go now?"

"Scallions…"

"Secchan~" Konoka said again. She put a hand on Setsuna's shoulder and gave her a gentle shake. "Secchan~ Come back to Japan, please."

Setsuna blinked a few time, shook her head to clear it, and looked around. "Kono-chan-" She stopped speaking, and Konoka realized the other girl was staring at the beat up and badly abused bundle of scallions she held.

Setsuna reeled as every gory detail came back. She had faced down spirits, monsters, demons and even a dragon or two, but she knew the scene she had witnessed this night would haunt her the rest of her life. Her dear Kono-chan, with the scallions…!

"Secchan? Are you okay?"

Setsuna put her her hands on Konoka's shoulders and hung her head. "I…I think after seeing that…I think I can't get married anymore…"

"Secchan?"

Setsuna whipped her head up and looked Konoka in the eye. "You'll take responsibility, won't you?"

* * *

_**Author's Notes**__: Having fun yet? This is an extra long chapter and it's a few days late, so sorry about that. I probably should have split this chapter, but I already did that once. Man, this one needed a lot of work before it was ready to be posted, and I'm STILL not happy with it. Oh well... It was also a bit more perverted than normal too, I guess...ah well. Sorry about that.  
_

* * *

Nelle das Dores - Quiet Whirligig Librarian

Born - 12/25/1992

Height - 5'2"

Library Club

Likes: The smell of old paper, flowers, old buildings, children

Dislikes: Those who seek to hurt others. Other than that, nothing much.

Roommate: Liliana Rosario

Little Known Facts: She is Brazilian, and the short scarf she wears around her neck hides a horrible looking scar.

* * *

Zeph Castor - Dramatic Vampire Lord and Possibly Failed Shakespearean Actor

Born - ?

Height - 6'

Likes: Drama, Irony

Dislikes: Dull everyday drudgery

Little Known Facts: He is the current head of The Council of the Great Vampire Lords

* * *

Jonus Hart - Amused Vampire Lord

Born - 8/30/982

Height - 6'2"

Likes: Good food, respect, nice clothes

Dislikes: Mold

Little Known Facts: He loves to travel so much that he was almost disqualified from joining the Great Vampire Lords on the basis of having no permanent address.


	23. Ch 21 Reiko's House Pt 2

**Still Waters 3, Chapter 21, Reiko's House Part 2**

* * *

Akira and Taro stood just inside the doorway of the third story of the injured Sakai Reiko's house, with Kagami still on the stairs. Kagami took one look at the hideous…thing…standing in the room, looking at them with its single eye set in its upper torso, and screamed. It had no mouth. _It had no mouth…!_

Taro looked at the creature with dawning horror; it turned its freakish single-eyed gaze from Kagami to her, and her stomach roiled as its cross-shaped pupil expanded and contracted seemingly at random as it examined her. She backed up a step as waves of horror washed over her. When she had been asked to check out Reiko's house, she hadn't expected anything like _this_…! She hadn't known anything like this even existed! She felt her supper trying for an encore appearance when Akira took charge.

"Adeat!" Akira shouted, and the mysterious floating ribbons from her forced pactio with the P.E. teacher Max Linell, six years previous, appeared. She forced down her revulsion at the mere sight of the short apelike creature's horrible, hairy body, struggled mentally for a moment, succeeded. She heard Kagami retching in the stairwell behind her, and then Taro moved past her, holding her baseball bat at the ready. She put an arm in front of the girl to stop her while keeping an eye on the creature which, she suddenly realized, seemed just as put out by the situation as she did herself.

Akira carefully stepped fully into the room, closely followed by Taro. Kagami appeared a moment later, making sure to stay behind them. The room itself was fairly unremarkable; it seemed to serve as Reiko's library for the most part; though several of the cheap shelf units were lined with bizarre and unusual items. She spotted a horse's skull, a stuffed cat, and some sort of ritual knife offhand, but forced herself to focus on the creature again, as much as she didn't want to; she _reeeally_ didn't want to. She tentatively probed for a water reaction, but the beast visibly shivered and somehow forced her power to veer away. The two of them just looked at each other for a moment.

"…Can you understand me?" Akira asked, her voice uncharacteristically wavery as she observed the creature. It looked at them in an oddly intelligent manner, and had thus far shown none of the natural reactions of a wild or dangerous animal. In any case, she applauded herself for being able to speak at all in such a situation. She had faced all manner of horrible creatures in her time as a mage, but never something as _alien_ as this.

_Yes._

Akira cocked her head to the side and intensified her stare while Taro and Kagami all but clung together as they looked around, wide eyed. 'They must have heard it too,' Akira thought.

"Did you say…?" Taro asked, looking at Kagami, who shook her head frantically.

Akira ignored them and focused her attention on the creature. "Telepathic?" she asked.

_Yes, that is the word_.

"What are you?"

_Devil. Sister put me in jar. Jar fall, break._

"You…what are you doing?" Taro asked; her voiced cracked halfway through, but she held on admirably.

_Go, stay. Not matter. Look for Sister._

"Sister…do you mean Reiko-san?" Akira asked. She had the odd sense that this couldn't be happening; she couldn't be here with two of Negi's new students, holding a conversation with this...this _thing_!

_Yes._

"Why?" Akira forced herself to ask. She remained standing in front of the other two, in case the thing decided to attack. It didn't _seem_ violent, but you never could tell...

_Sister has life._

"Life?"

_My life, _ the thing clarified, further confusing the three girls.

"U-um, what's your name?" Kagami suddenly asked, shrinking back behind Taro, who was still hiding behind Akira.

_Name? Sister call Bud, name on jar._

"W-what are you?" Kagami asked suddenly, repeating the earlier question.

_Devil. Daemon. No longer. No life, no tribe._

"Why did you come here?" Akira asked.

_Kill. Order to kill. Sister capture me, put in jar. No order now. Sister has life._

The three girls looked at each other in consternation for a moment.

"(It looks like he thinks he owes Reiko-san some sort of debt,)" Akira whispered.

Taro nodded shakily. "(Makes about as much sense as anything else I've seen today,)" she whispered back.

"(…so he's a devil? A real, actual devil from hell?)" Kagami asked.

"(He sure looks like it,)" Taro whispered. The thing focused its eye on her , and she shivered as she felt it poking gently at her mind.

Akira motioned for them to be quiet while she looked thoughtfully at the self-proclaimed devil. "Will you go back into the bottle?"

_Bottle broke._ The creature took a few wobbling steps and stopped beside a broken beer bottle, which it caressed almost fondly with one freakish three-fingered hand. _Sister hurt?_

"Y-yeah," Taro said as the creature swiveled its eye to look at her. She cringed back slightly and barely managed to hold back another shiver of revulsion.

_What wrong?_ it asked, seeming to realize their discomfort for the first time.

"Well…" Kagami started. "You're scary looking…"

It remained silent for a moment, seeming to think over that tidbit of information as it looked from one to another.

_Sorry. Not know._ It suddenly started to glow so brightly they had to turn away, and then the light was gone and there was a medium sized orange dog with floppy ears standing where the beast had stood seconds before. It barked.

_Good?_

"Yeah," Taro said shakily while the other two nodded. She was just thankful it had two eyes and a mouth now. Something about the lack of a mouth in its true form bothered her on some deep, primal level.

"Did anything else escape?" Akira asked after a moment. The dog cocked its head to the side as if in deep thought.

_Not know. Not after me._

"Are you dangerous?" she asked. The dog cocked its head again.

_You friend of Sister?_

"Yes," Akira stated. Taro and Kagami nodded. The dog smiled a doggy smile at that answer.

_Not hurt you. Hurt enemy of Sister._

"Okay…will you stay here and guard her house?"

_Yes._

"Don't hurt anyone if you can help it, but don't let anyone who's not carrying this-" Akira paused to show him the little lego man Reiko used as a key "-enter. Okay?"

_Yes. Will protect Sister's house._

* * *

"Okay, so that takes care of that," Kagami said as she exited Reiko's house and shut the door. There was a click as the various enchantments locked the door.

Akira checked the door and nodded. Kagami and Taro were exhausted, and though whatever that thing was had changed into a dog so as not to disturb them, both girls were still pale and shaken; she herself still felt a little queasy at the thought of it. "You two will go straight home. There have been rumors of strangers wandering around at night lately, and we don't want a repeat of what happened with Reiko-san," she lectured.

Taro and Kagami looked at each other, and Taro smirked. "Yes mother." They left Akira standing there, sputtering.

* * *

Bright and early the next morning, Kazumi strolled through the streets of Mahora, ever-present camera in hand. She had her artifact out as well, the odd little spying machines already strategically placed around the city. A quick glance through the different video feeds showed there were a lot more mages out there than there used to be, it seemed. She even recognized most of them.

"Hello Kazumi," Asuna said, coming up behind the other woman on her morning jog.

"Hey, Asuna. What's going on?"

Asuna stopped jogging and stretched languidly before she answered. "They've got it all planned out. For going to the magic world, I mean. I get to be one of the first ones brought over," Asuna said a bit proudly.

"That's nice," Kazumi said absently, successfully annoying Asuna enough to make her stick out her tongue. Kazumi grinned. "How are they planning on going over? Anyone decided on a portal yet?"

"Well, Negi wants to use the one over in England or wherever, but Chisame says she can take us all over in small groups if it needs to be done that way."

Kazumi nodded. Negi's reasons were obvious; he probably wanted to visit his hometown before going over to the magic world. Chisame, on the other hand, was an odd case. The girl apparently hadn't aged a day in six years, but instead had eyes so old they made old man Konoe himself look like a newborn baby. Kazumi had wanted to ask Chisame what her anti-aging secret was, but from the haunted look in the girl's eyes, the cost was probably more than Kazumi was willing to pay.

She had heard the stories; they all had. Chisame hadn't changed at all since the first time she had entered that strange bar six years before during the incident with the kidnappings, and had disappeared for substantial amounts of time several times since; after every disappearance, she came back looking more haunted than before. Kazumi turned around and took a random picture of Asuna's surprised face.

"What was that for?"

"Posterity."

"Yeah…anyway, you're going to be in the last group, since you're not used to direct combat. Not that we're really expecting to be attacked when we go over or anything," Asuna said, waving her hand dismissively.

"Makes sense," Kazumi said as she turned the camera and held it out at arm's length to take a picture of herself. She threw an arm around Asuna's neck and took another picture of the two of them.

"What's with all the pictures?" Asuna asked again.

Kazumi checked the screen on the back of the camera to see how the pictures turned out before she answered. "Well, we may not all make it. I don't want to lose anyone, but…it's better to take steps before something happens."

"Kazumi…"

"Heya Asuna, Kazumi," Misa said happily as she approached from ahead.

"Hey Misa. How're the others?" Asuna asked.

"Sleeping, how else?" Misa asked jokingly. The members of Dekopin Rocket had a different schedule from the other members of Negi's group; they tended to stay up all night playing music at clubs or bars and made up for it by sleeping all day. Even Ako had become a bit of a nightowl. Misa seemed to be the only exception; somehow the woman survived on just a few hours of sleep a day.

"Ha ha ha," Asuna stated blandly.

The joking look left Misa's face and she got serious. "We'll be all right. Madoka's gotten even stronger, and Sakurako's right behind."

"What about Ako-chan?" Asuna asked while Kazumi took a picture of the two of them.

Misa made a conflicted expression before she answered. "I don't know. It seems like something's holding her back."

"Holding her back? What, is she afraid?" Asuna asked, surprised. She hadn't heard anything about _this_...

"No…" Misa's frown deepened. "It's like some outside force is influencing her…I don't get it. I asked Negi about it, but he just said not to worry." The trio lapsed into silence for a moment as they walked. "So how is Chizuru's group doing?" Misa asked as she stopped at a vending machine and got a drink.

"Stronger and stronger," Kazumi answered.

"Honya's group?"

"Ridiculously strong. You should see Yue, she can do things with magic I've never even heard of. She even had Eva stunned speechless the other day."

Asuna paused to think about that for a moment. "Wish I could've seen that..."

"Yeah, it was really something," Kazumi replied absently as she scanned through the pictures in her camera until she found it, and showed them. Asuna simply burst into laughter on the spot, while Misa at least had the decency to try and cover her mouth first, not that it did anything. Kazumi grinned a little as well; the picture of Eva, the high daylight walker, standing there in the resort with her mouth hanging open and her eyes wide in stunned surprise, was a hilarious sight no matter how many times she looked at it.

When Asuna and Misa had recovered, the trio continued on. "How about Kaede and the twins?"

"Do you even need to ask?" Kazumi asked, grinning.

"Are we really ready, do you think?" Misa finally asked.

"As ready as we'll ever be," Asuna said lightly.

"Some of us may be stronger than others, but…when we go to face Fate, we'll all stand together," Kazumi said seriously. The other two looked at her and nodded.

"Huh, trust the Mahora Paparazzi to say it right," Misa said, prompting a laugh from Asuna.

"I thought it was a bit cheesy, myself," Kazumi said, grinning crookedly as her friends teased her.

"So, has anyone worked out a strategy beyond who goes first?" Asuna asked after a moment.

"There is no way to work out a good strategy without more information," Kazumi said. "Misora is over there now, checking things out. Or she was, last I heard." Not that Misora had many opportunities to get information to her friends; she was on some secret mission from the church, after all.

"Oh…gotcha," Asuna said.

* * *

Kara paused at the street corner just outside the shopping district, took a deep breath to calm herself, let it out, took another one, moved to cross the street, and abruptly sat down on a nearby bench to dig out the map she had made earlier. She moved things around in her bag for a moment before taking the map out of an inner pocket. She unfolded it and laid it on her lap and tried to straighten out the creases in the paper. Upon finally deciding that the paper was flat enough, she looked at the map again and traced the route she would have to take. 'From here, turn left, go twenty meters. Cross the road, enter the clothing store Agata.' She folded the map again, making sure the creases bent the way they had been before, and carefully returned it to the inside pocket of her bag. She zipped the little zipper on the pocket, rustled through the few items in the bottom of the bag aimlessly for a moment, and prepared herself for the ordeal to come in the same way she always prepared for any great test of courage. 'OhGodohGodohGod I can't believe I'm doing this I'm not ready for this I'mnotreadyI'mnotreadyohGodohGodohGod!'

She stood up and slipped the bag's strap over her shoulder, carefully schooling her face into a blank expression as she fervently prayed for a lightning bolt to strike her down in the middle of the street and save her from the embarrassment and awkwardness that was fast approaching.

She watched the crowds of civilians carefully as she moved the twenty meters to the crosswalk. She looked both ways, waited about thirty seconds for a slow moving car to pass, and moved robotically across the street to the other side, where she paused in front of the store. 'It says 'Agatha', not 'Agata'…maybe this isn't the right place…?' she thought hopefully as she carefully ignored the sale signs in the windows that matched the flier she had found in the newspaper a few days ago. Not to mention the size and style of the store's sign and logo, the fact that it was a clothing store, or the prominently displayed dresses that matched the sale items from the ad. 'I'm not ready I'm not ready I'm not ready-'

"Excuse me," an angular-faced older woman said coldly as she shoved by Kara and opened the door. The woman paused in the doorway and turned her head to give Kara one last look and 'hmphed', then continued inside.

Kara gulped and tried to calm herself down. She looked down at her clothing, suddenly realizing just how out of her element she was. The woman's face had been covered in makeup, she wore a fancy dress, and she had a fair bit of jewelry to go with it. In contrast, Kara wore a tight band shirt (the girliest thing she had managed to convince herself to wear since arriving in Japan, except for the battle of the bands a while back), a loose pair of black jeans, and a pair of cheap shoes. She suddenly felt as if her heart was trying to escape her chest, and her legs were very shaky. "This is a bad idea…" she said, then entered the store.

The inside of the store was pleasant enough; the entrance area was quite spacious, but large clothing racks, displays, and mannequins up on pedestals blocked the sight of any other customers while pleasantly bland light music was piped in over the speaker system. The overall effect lent itself well to browsing uninterrupted, something Kara appreciated greatly at this moment in time.

The problem, Kara knew, was that she had no idea of where to begin or even how to go about doing what she had come here to do.

She wandered over to the edge of the area with the displays, but hesitated. Someone entered the store and Kara reached down and poked a piece of cloth that was apparently some sort of really short shirt, trying to act as if she belonged there while surreptitiously eyeing the newcomer to see how she acted. The woman simply…walked into the maze of racks and disappeared. Kara looked around warily to make sure no one was watching, then slipped among the racks herself.

It took her a while to work up the nerve, but after a while Kara started to inspect the pieces of clothing on the racks more closely; from when she had arrived in Japan up until now, she had simply gone to music stores to get her shirts and pants, generally copying whatever she saw others wearing; before that, her mother had picked out clothes for her. But…she paused as she fingered a nice, simple white dress. It was…really pretty. Not like anything she had ever worn before. She carefully, very carefully, removed it from the rack and held it up to get a better look. She looked for a tag that stated the size, but couldn't find one until she looked at the hanger. Size five…? What did that mean?

She poked around for a moment until she found a similar dress, labeled as size two. She held them up side by side, frowning. How on earth did this work? Things either fit or they didn't, and that was that. But all these different sizes…how were you supposed to figure out what size you wore?

Kara was concentrating so heavily on the problem of sizes that she didn't even notice the woman who walked up behind her until she spoke.

"Do you need some help?"

Kara jumped and whirled around, holding the two dresses in front of herself like some sort of shield. "I, uh, I…yes?"

The woman was quite short, 5'1" at most, and maybe a hundred pounds soaking wet; Kara found herself almost able to look down at the top of the woman's head. She was obviously not Japanese, but rather was a foreigner, most likely an American like Kara. "Do you like that dress?" the woman asked, smiling. It was an infectious smile.

Kara blushed, but gave a quick nod.

"Okay. It looks like the wrong size for you, though…" the woman said as she looked Kara over, trailing off as she stared at Kara's chest for a moment.

Kara suddenly felt awkward and clutched the two dresses to her chest tightly. "I think I should probably go…"

"Nonsense," the woman said as she expertly looked through the racks. "Ah, here we go. This one should probably fit, though you may need to modify the neckline a little…"

Kara accepted the dress quietly, so out of her element that she didn't even know where to begin. The woman took the first two dresses and put them somewhere, then pulled out a few more, which she passed to Kara.

"Um, miss…?"

"Jennifer," the woman said, smiling brightly at Kara.

Kara blushed harder. "Miss Jennifer…I just wanted this one," she said, holding up the first one Jennifer had given her.

Jennifer laughed lightly, a tinkling sound that made Kara's head feel all warm and fuzzy. "Oh, you can't just take a dress off the rack and buy it without even trying it on," she explained as she added another one to the pile.

"But what about these?" Kara said, struggling with the rapidly growing pile of dresses.

"You can't try on just one, either. Haven't you ever done this before?"

Kara looked away, ashamed. "…no…" Her blush deepened further still as she felt the woman's eyes on her.

"You really haven't…" Jennifer said, the shock in her voice obvious.

They fell into an awkward silence that spanned perhaps ten seconds. Kara began to sweat.

"Look, maybe I should go-"

"Well come on then, let's have fun with this," Jennifer said over Kara's words as she threw three more on the pile. "Come on, the dressing rooms are this way."

* * *

Ayaka gave the punching bag one last hit and stepped back, satisfied with the solid _thunk_ it produced as it bounced off the support beam. The stress from dealing with her increasingly disagreeable mother was really starting to get to her; every time they talked it was 'Now dear, I've found a nice young man…' or 'Why don't you give up these silly martial arts and act like a proper young lady?' She spun around and gave the bag a solid kick, nearly ripping it loose.

"Hello, Iincho!" Ku Fei said from the doorway of the training room.

Ayaka looked up and smiled wide as she brushed her sweaty bangs out of her face, amused at the round of murmuring from the other people who were supposed to be training. Goro's Gym wasn't particularly well known among normal people, but apparently the opposite was true among those involved in the underground fighting circuit. And of course she could trust Ku Fei of all people to know about _that_. "Hello, Ku Fei. Have you come to train?"

Ku Fei nodded. "Want to spar?"

The room suddenly went dead silent as twenty people strained to listen while trying and failing to avoid appearing as if they were doing so. Ayaka glanced around and grinned wickedly. "Okay, let's spar."

* * *

The boxing ring in Goro's basement wasn't quite regulation size, and it wasn't what Ayaka was used to sparring in, but it would do.

And, she thought, the added height would allow the gathering crowd to see the whole match. And now, here came old Goro himself.

"Okay ladies," the big man said as he climbed into the ring. He was getting on in years and most of his muscle had turned soft, but he was still a man to be reckoned with, and anyone who saw that horribly scarred face and didn't feel the least bit of fright was tougher, or more foolish, than most.

"One round, three minutes. You know the rules," Goro said. He stepped back and leaned against one of the ring posts, then signaled another man who was temporarily working as a timekeeper.

The bell rang and Ayaka and Ku Fei instantly stepped away from each other and circled.

"No openings, you are getting better," Ku Fei said admiringly. Ayaka's half smile returned.

"You too." And it wasn't just lip service; Ku Fei was now worlds ahead of where she had been the last time they sparred a couple years ago, just before graduation. In their last couple years of high school the Chinese girl had had some sort of personal crisis and her movements had become uncharacteristically sloppy, which had evidently caused her to flee back home to China. What Ku Fei had done in the intervening time was a mystery to Ayaka, but whatever it was, it had worked and she was now at the top of her form, far better than she had ever been before.

After several feints back and forth, Ayaka was the first to strike; it was a vicious kick that missed Ku Fei's side by an inch at most. She followed it up with a few jabs that Ku Fei expertly turned aside, and then went on the defensive as Ku Fei attacked with amazing speed.

They went back and forth for a moment, neither one landing a hit in the flurry of blows, while those watching went wild. None of the observers had expected an appearance by the famous Ku Fei, or that Ayaka, who just looked like some rich foreigner, would actually give her a good fight.

"That's better, you're smiling now," Ku Fei said breathlessly, smiling wide herself as the two closed in on each other, blocking, dodging, and parrying blows at insane speeds.

And Ayaka _was_ smiling. This was it! This was the sort of thing she had been looking for for the past few years. After what she had told her mother…yes, this was it. This was her life now. She realized she hadn't been paying enough attention an instant before Ku Fei finally connected and the air was blasted from Ayaka's lungs as she toppled backward between the ring ropes and into the crowd.

The last thing Ayaka heard before everything faded to a blur was the sound of Goro-san announcing Ku Fei as the winner, and Ayaka sank into a comfortable, warm darkness, her lunatic smile widening the whole time.

* * *

"You okay?"

Ayaka blinked and groaned as the pain in her abdomen made itself known. "Ku Fei?"

"Yes."

"Where are we?"

"The back room at Goro's. You've been out for an hour. How do you feel?"

Ayaka sat up in the makeshift hospital bed and shook her head to clear it. "…that was fun," she said, drawing a smirk from Ku Fei. Honestly, it really _had_ been a lot of fun. Except the part at the end where she had been knocked unconscious. But the rest, yeah…it had been a blast.

Ku Fei's smirk turned into a grin. "Yes."

Ayaka found herself returning Ku Fei's smile. "Let's do that more often."

"Yes!"

* * *

Kara walked up to the cash register in a daze, holding the one dress she had chosen close to her chest.

"Excuse me, miss? Can I see the item you wish to purchase?" the cashier asked after Kara had stood there for a moment.

"What? Oh, yeah. Sorry," Kara said as she handed it over. 'I don't think I stopped blushing the whole time…' she thought dazedly as she recalled the whole ordeal.

It hadn't been so bad at first; at least, not until she realized she had no clue how to put the various dresses on. It had seemed so easy to do; or it had up until she was in the dressing room with her clothes off. Then it had gotten awkward fast as she struggled with the first one for several minutes before finally giving in and explaining the situation to Jennifer. She blushed _hard_ as she recalled the tiny woman coming into the dressing room to help. The rooms were very small, and if she hadn't known better she might have thought the woman had been part octopus. Then there was that really awkward point where she had lost her balance and smooshed Jennifer against the wall… And then there was that thing Jennifer had said about wanting to have Kara's babies? What was _that_ all about?

She felt sort of dirty, as if she needed a shower, but couldn't explain why.

She was brought back to reality when the cashier told her the price and took her money, and then Kara wandered out of the store, clutching the bag to her chest. But now that she had bought the dress, what was she to do with it? She couldn't wear it around school or the dorm; she would probably die of embarrassment if she did. She made her way across the street and started down the sidewalk at a slow pace, looking down into the bag from time to time to reassure herself that it hadn't all been a dream. She hadn't ever had a dress before…it was almost surreal, and thinking about it made her smile. She finally had a pretty dress!

"Hehee…" She snapped her mouth shut and looked around to make sure no one had seen her giggle. Luckily there was no one nearby so she hurried on her way, trying to remind herself to be cool and distant, like she had always tried to be before.

* * *

Ayumi peeked around the corner of a building at Kara's back, frowning as she did so. What on Earth was Kara doing in Agatha's? Agatha's was _her _store. She didn't know why the other girl was there, but…she didn't like it. Not at all.

* * *

A strong wind blew and rustled the foreign girl's hair. She swept her hair back behind her ear to get it out of her face and paused for a moment, glancing up at the clouds from the bare hilltop in the woods where she was drawing her purification circle.

The birds…sparrows and finches flitted back and forth, going about the daily business of eating, drinking, feeding their children…living. But far above, riding the updrafts in big lazy circles, was a big vulture. Even from this distance she could see it clearly as it cocked its ugly bald head to the side, watching for those things only vultures could see.

Student number eleven, Sophie Rivers, shivered in the early summer sunlight and went back to her magic circle.

Something was watching.

Sophie quickly finished the circle, made sure the items of power were in the correct places, chanted the purification spell to prepare the area for future use, and began gathering the materials to be put away. Somehow, she just didn't feel like being out in the open right now. A quick glance around showed what she had subconsciously known for several minutes now; the sparrows and finches were gone.

The great vulture flapped its massive wings and extended its clawed feet as it came in for an ungraceful landing on the other side of her magic circle; she crossed her arms over her face to protect her eyes from the swirling dust. When the air became still again, she lowered her arms and looked at the stranger that had come to rest in her domain.

The vulture was enormous, and its position in the massive circle she had created roughly correlated to the concept of death and danger in the near future. Who's death? She didn't know, and the vulture wasn't about to explain.

"I hate you," she said shakily, wrapping her arms tightly around herself to stop herself from running; the materials she had been in the process of gathering now lay where they had fallen, utterly forgotten. The vulture just turned its head this way and that, looking at her first with one eye, then the other. Sophie shivered. Always, it came back to the vulture. No matter how far she ran or what she did, always the vulture. She unintentionally took a step back and the vulture hopped toward her.

"S-stop…" she muttered.

The vulture leaned forward, as if examining her more closely. She felt a terrible chill, and shivered again.

"Go away," she said quietly. "I don't want you."

And, almost as if it hadn't come from a memory but rather from the creature in front of her, she heard the voice of the crazy old man who had lived in the ruins just outside of town, back home, before the whole place was destroyed. 'But he wants you, girl. The two of you are the same.'

"N-no…no!" Sophie backed away and the vulture hopped toward her and something snapped in Sophie's mind, and she broke into a wild run into the woods, careless of the materials she had left behind. A branch whipped hard against the side of her face and left a burning streak along her cheek as she stumbled, but she hardly noticed.

She ran and ran and ran as the hideous bird called out behind her. Stumbling, eyes watering from the sting of lashing branches and her terror…she fell and scraped her knee, but quickly regained her feet and kept going, on and on and on until she burst out of the woods and tripped over the edge of one of the paved walkways that were all over the campus. She fell to the ground on her stomach and lay there, her chest heaving with the impact of her fall and the exertion of her wild escape.

"Hey, Sparrow, you okay?"

Sophie jerked and tried to scramble away when the deep voice cut through her thoughts, and almost made it until someone grabbed her by the wrist. She rounded on the person and punched him in the stomach, but there was no reaction other than a slight 'oof'.

"Hey, I asked if you were okay?" he repeated, and Sophie snapped back to reality, realizing what she must look like by this point. He released her hand.

It was only then that she recognized the voice of the P.E. teacher, Max Linell, who had apparently been walking along the path when she ran out of the woods, covered in scrapes, bruises, and an interesting mixture of mud and blood. "I-I'm sorry, sensei. It's nothing, sensei," she said quietly as she looked down at the ground, itching to escape back to her dorm room.

"…I wouldn't say that that's nothing," the teacher said, pointing at her bleeding and slightly swelled knee, and then looking pointedly at the bloody welt on her face.

Sophie finally realized her face was bleeding and gave a start. "I…"

"You need to go to the nurse's office; think you can make it there yourself, or do you need me to take you there?" he asked.

Sophie shrank in on herself even more and lowered her head, causing her hair to fall in front of her face. "I'm fine, I'll go straight there."

He looked at her a moment, then nodded. "Okay. But what were you doing out in the woods? It's dangerous out there, you know? I know it's close to the school, but that doesn't mean there aren't wild animals in there." He paused a moment. "You're not doing anything you shouldn't be doing out there, are you?" he asked quietly.

"No, sensei," Sophie said, looking away from his shoes, where she had trained her gaze earlier. She realized she was trembling, and forced herself to stop. This man…he scared her beyond what words could convey. He shined so bright and fierce that sometimes she felt as though she might burn up if she so much as caught his attention. There were others around town and the school that inspired similar fears, but this one scared her the most; being around him was the same as being around death. Not the usual death though, not the quiet, peaceful sort that comes in old age after a full life; no, being around this man was like being around the horrible sort of death; pain, agony, destruction…but mostly incinerating fire. The end of the world. It wouldn't have been so bad if it was the usual sort of fear; instead, this was the full on, in-fear-for-my-life sort of flat out terror that he inspired in her. And he was frighteningly sharp…he even called her Sparrow. She involuntarily dredged up a handful of memories of that crazy old man who had trained her back home, always calling her Sparrow. 'Sparrow, do this,' or 'Sparrow, try and copy this circle,' or 'Sparrow, you're going to be the reason all your friends die.' She shuddered and the big teacher turned his full attention back to her, and she nearly wilted on the spot.

"I'd better go," she finally managed to say. She didn't wait for a response, but instead turned and headed quickly for the nearest building, where she retched violently in the bathroom. Luckily the building was almost deserted and no one heard the noise. She propped a mop up in the looping door handle to prevent anyone from coming in and set about cleaning herself up. She carefully wiped the mud and blood from her skin and used a little charm she knew to close the various cuts and scrapes, paying careful attention to the left side of her face, where a whipping branch had left a long bloody gouge in her cheek. It was pretty bad…it might even leave a scar. Well, it wasn't as if she was ever going to marry anyone anyway, Old Cezar had seen that in his visions, so it really didn't matter, but…she couldn't help but feel a little sad.

When she had finished, she left the bathroom and headed straight for the dorm with her head down, and didn't stop until she collapsed crying on her bed in the room she shared with Takahashi Shizuko.

* * *

**Omake**

Late in the evening, Jennifer opened the door after a long day at work and floated dreamily into the place she shared with Max and Akira. She made her slow way to the couch and draped herself over it next to Max, leaning against him.

"Well what's gotten into you?" Max asked curiously, raising an eyebrow.

Jennifer looked up at him dreamily. "I think I'm in love…"

* * *

_**Author's Notes**: Oooh, mysterious. Also, the profiles for the last two students in the class below. And Akira._

* * *

Okochi Akira - Pretty Water Elemental

Born - 5/36/1988

Height - 5'9"

Likes: Max, Jennifer, playing in the water

Dislikes: Nothing much

Little Known Facts: Likes octopusses

* * *

Mori Kumiko - Student number 25

Born - 1/1/1995

Height - 5'4"

Astronomy Club

Likes: Charms, sappy movies

Dislikes: Cold Weather

Roommate: Kondo Kai

Little Known Facts: Her whole family died under mysterious circumstances; she refuses to talk about it.

* * *

Sophie Rivers - Student number 11

Born - 12/23/1994

Height - 5'8"

Walking Club

Likes: Forests, temperate wilderness, kids

Dislikes: Cities, nosy people, her bizarre popularity among the younger students due to her association with Takahashi Shizuko, vultures

Roommate: Takahashi Shizuko

Little Known Facts: 'Rivers' isn't her real last name.


	24. Ch 22 Intruder pt 1

**Still Waters 3, Chapter 22, Intruder Part 1**

* * *

_Sunday, June 14th, 2009_

* * *

A rather bland looking man with thin facial features stood on a tall hill overlooking the city of Mahora.

"So, she is here," he said, turning to his companion.

The large doglike creature beside him maintained its silence and sniffed the wind.

"Look, but don't touch," he instructed. "Don't attack anyone. I want you to find them all and let me know where they live; perhaps we may gain some allies here," he said, rubbing the creature's head and scratching it behind the ears in that certain way it seemed to enjoy. "Go."

The doglike form shrank into the shadow of a nearby tree and was gone, leaving the man alone on the hill.

* * *

"Ah…I hate school. I wish summer vacation would start soon," Sasaki Rina complained to anyone who would listen.

Unfortunately for student number twenty-five, Mori Kumiko, she was the only one nearby. She stirred her drink with a straw and kept her silence while the two of them waited for their friend Inoue Ai to show up. Ai wasn't usually this late, and Kumiko was starting to get worried when her cell phone rang.

She fished it out of her bag by the third ring and answered. "Hello?"

'Ah, yeah, Kumiko-san, this is Inoue. Sorry, but I've got to cancel our meeting today. Hey! Watch out! There's one over there!' This seemed to be meant for someone there with Inoue. 'Anyway, sorry about that,' she said to Kumiko.

Kumiko winced as the sound of an explosion came through over the phone. "Inoue-san? Hey, Inoue-san, say something! Are you still there?"

Kumiko listened intently for a moment, then Inoue coughed into the phone a few times and cleared her throat. 'Well, I can't make it. Sorry! Tell Rina-san that we'll have to reschedule. See you some other time!' Kumiko and Rina heard the sound of another explosion, then Ai spoke again. 'Sorry, gotta go!'

Kumiko listened a moment longer. "She hung up."

Rina blinked. "What was that all about?" She had heard the explosions from the other side of the table.

Kumiko shrugged and shook her head. "No clue. We'll have to get her to tell us that story next time we see her, I guess. Anyway, she said…" she trailed off.

"Hey, Kumiko? Something wrong?" Rina asked.

Kumiko cocked her head to the side and looked around, her eyes distant. 'Something's out there…' She recalled where she was and snapped back to reality. "Ah, sorry Rina, something came up and I've got to go. See you later?"

Rina slumped in her seat. "Fine, fine. Whatever. Go play or whatever. I'll just stay here. All alone. With no one to talk to."

"Thanks for understanding, Rina!" Kumiko said as she grabbed her bag and left the outdoor café at a run.

Rina collapsed on the table and watched Kumiko run off. "It's so booooooriiing…!"

* * *

With this being a day off school, Negi decided to take some of the girls out to Eva's resort for an intense training session, to discover their strengths and weaknesses. Neither Eva nor Chachamaru were home, so Negi let himself in with the key the vampire girl had given him.

"Is it all right for us to do this?" Mochizuki Kagami asked as Negi led the group of girls into the remote cabin. She was quite sure she had seen several horror movies start just this way...

"It's fine. Master gave me permission to use the resort any time," Negi replied easily as he pocketed the key. "Let's all go downstairs now."

"Oh, fresh meat," Chachazero said from the top of the stairs that lead up to the second floor, surprising the group. "Did you come to play today?"

Some of the girls were still uneasy around the animated doll, and it showed as several of them backed away or looked warily at Negi.

"In a way," Negi said happily. "Today we're testing to see where their strengths lie…want to join us?"

"Of course!" Chachazero replied gleefully. "Let me get my kukri!" she said, then headed for the stairs in her weird little hopping run that was so oddly amusing to watch. She had just disappeared upstairs when Kamo came down.

"Hmm? Aniki? Oh, I didn't expect you guys to be here today," he said as he took out a cigarette.

And again, the girls' reactions were varied. They had all seen the ermine riding Negi's shoulder in school of course, but only a few were aware he was anything but a normal pet.

"Hello Kamo-kun, it's nice to see you got back safely," Negi said as the ermine climbed up to his shoulder. "We're doing some testing," he continued, stepping aside to allow Chachazero, who was dragging a large black instrument case, to go downstairs first. "How was your trip?"

"It was great, I was able to get some good stuff; it'll be shipped to the usual address."

Negi nodded. He couldn't wait to go through the new materials Kamo had found...some people just didn't realize it wasn't okay to traffic in stolen magical items, and Negi, as the as the foremost local expert in magical antiques, was often tapped by the local magic association to identify newly captured items; it was a job he loved. "Find any new information?"

Kamo shrugged. "About the Thousand Master? Nothing anyone would tell an ermine. Just the usual. He defected to the Aborigines, he's become the demon queen's closest advisor, he's made himself king of al Jamila, he's sleeping in the drunk tank downtown…you know, the usual. Nothing we can use."

"That's too bad," Negi said as he approached the system of glass balls that made up Eva's resort. It had grown quite a bit in previous years, and now occupied almost the entire basement. Eva had been considering expanding the basement itself to add even more, but hadn't gotten around to it yet. The girls filed in behind him.

* * *

Several hours after entering the resort, Negi frowned as he continued to observe one particular student's lack of progress. "What do you think, Kamo-kun?"

"Hmm? Kagami-ane-san? I don't know, aniki. I think it's something to do with the incantations she is using. She picked 'em up fast, but only the simplest ones seem to work for her," Kamo said thoughtfully.

Negi's frown deepened as he considered that. The girl had tons of power and seemed to learn simple spells easier than even _he_ had (once he had gotten the hang of it, anyway), but for some reason she simply couldn't perform higher level incantations. Anything more complex than a single sagitta magica would come out weak; sometimes the effect was wild, but for the most part…nothing happened. He hoped she wasn't the same as Takamichi, who just couldn't use incantations at all, but he had a bad feeling that the problem was something similar. Then again, she might be like Akira-san, who couldn't use traditional spells at all, but rather incanted in Japanese. He stood up and waved to get the girl's attention. "Kagami-san! Come here a moment!"

Kagami looked up at the sound of someone calling her name just in time for her to lose control of the lightning spell she was attempting. It exploded noisily at the tip of her wand, causing Taro, standing in the practice space next to her, to jump and mutter something angrily. Kagami ignored her and made her way over to the teacher. "Yes, Negi-sensei?"

Negi looked down at her thoughtfully for a moment, utterly failing to see Kagami's sudden shy embarrassment. "Kagami-san, what happens when you perform an incantation?"

"What do you mean?" Kagami asked, somewhat alarmed. Surely he wouldn't kick her out of the group just because her complex spells always failed…?

Negi looked thoughtful for a moment as he reworked his question. "What do you feel as you perform an incantation?"

"Feel…? Well, nothing I guess. I mean, toward the end it sometimes feels like I'm full of static, but usually there's nothing." She had trouble focusing when he was looking at her like that…! She found her eyes trailing down to his scar.

"That is not normal…" Negi said to himself, again utterly failing to see the panic-stricken look on poor Kagami's face. Normally, incantations were fairly easy to pick up and use by any mage with a bit of practice; the only major exceptions were those who tried to switch between different magical styles. Switching styles was widely considered to be a bad idea at best, as magic currents moved according to certain patterns in the body established by years of practice; one grew accustomed to certain ways of using magic to the exclusion of most others, in other words. But that was impossible in Kagami's case; she was no trained mage, and should have no idea of how magic was supposed to work. It would have taken years to get to the point she was at now to cause such a blockage.

"Kagami-ane-san," Kamo suddenly said. "What was that weird pose you do sometimes when you practice out in the woods?"

"You…you saw that?" Kagami asked as her face went a deep shade of crimson. If the ermine had seen it…she would never live it down if word of this got out!

"It was from Nanoha," Chisame said suddenly from behind Negi, who let out a surprised yelp.

"Geez, don't do that Chiuchi," Kamo said from under Kagami's braided ponytail.

"Hey! Get off me you freak ermine!"

Negi turned to Chisame. "I'm sorry Chisame, you scared me. I didn't know you were here…" Chisame smiled faintly at him, and he was again made aware of the age evident in her eyes. He decided to go back to what she had said. "What do you mean?"

Chisame turned her head. "It's from Nanoha. Specifically, the third season. One of the characters does that same pose a few times, though it was always with a staff instead of a wand. I've seen her do others too, but that one seems to be her favorite."

"What's 'Nanoha'?" Negi asked, clueless as usual.

Chisame sighed and pushed her glasses up, flashing the reflection into Negi's eyes so he would have to look away. "Anime. It's a magical girl anime. That's all I'll say here…I'll see you later," Chisame said abruptly as she turned away. "I'll be back sooner or later."

"Wait a moment, Chiu-san," Negi said. "Are you going back there again?"

Chisame gave him a tired smile and nodded.

"You know I don't like you going there so much…be careful, okay?"

"Mind your own business, Negi-kun," Chisame said not unkindly before stepping into a small storage building. There was a flash of light a moment later, and he knew she was gone.

* * *

Kara walked down the street, paying careful attention to the people's reactions. She had decided that today, for the first time, she would try a little…lipstick. Initial results had left her feeling strangely elated and, for some reason, had made her want to, well…_squeal_. It was a very unusual feeling for her to have, but…she shivered. Her mother would be _so_ _mad_ if she could see her now! She had a sudden urge to giggle, but quickly pushed it down and shook her head to clear it. She had to keep herself under control, she couldn't allow herself to make a mockery of her mother's school.

She had an urge to try some fingernail polish next, maybe…maybe her pretty dress after that? She smiled happily at the thought. At least, she smiled happily until she realized she was smiling happily. She had never been able to wear something like that before, her mother had strictly forbidden her from wearing _anything_ like that. But…she hadn't even had the nerve to try anything more than lipstick until now except for that horrible (really flashy/pretty) dress Ayumi had forced her to wear at the band tournament a while back. It had been ugly (really, REALLY pretty) and way too short, but she hadn't been ready for something like that at the time, and it had taken all her willpower not to burst into tears and run off the stage…it had taken all her nerve just to wear that tight shirt! And Ayumi still claimed it had been because of _Kara_ that they had gotten past the preliminaries. Ha, yeah right.

"Hello, I love you, won't you tell me your name?"

Kara paused, looking at the two guys standing in front of her. She didn't recognize either one. "Um…huh?" Her brain seemed to have shut off.

One of them grinned at her. "Hello beautiful, where have you been all my life?"

Kara just blinked at him; her attempt to mentally change gears back to reality didn't seem to be working. "…huh?" she asked again intelligently. Surely they couldn't be asking her out…right? Surely not. That left only one option she could think of.

The other guy pushed the first guy aside. "What my friend here is saying, is that he's so into you he feels like-"

"…that's mean," Kara said, interrupting. "That's really mean…" she said again as her eyes started tearing up. "How could you make fun of me like that…?" she turned on her heel and stalked away for perhaps ten steps, then broke into a run.

"…what?" the second guy said as he glanced at his friend.

"Uh…" the first guy said as he watched her go. "Wow."

"I told you man, there's no way that line would work. A girl like that, she's probably heard it a dozen times," the second guy said as he shook his head. "She was really…" he trailed off as he watched her running away. 'A dozen kids, see where we go from there…'

"…yeah…" the first one said, still watching. 'Maybe find a job, settle down…can't support the kids we'd have without a lot of money…' He shook his head to clear it. Why did he have the sudden urge to settle down and and have a dozen kids? 'Why would I want a dozen kids? I don't want _any_...!' he thought frantically as he watched the girl run.

* * *

Kara darted into a convenience store and rushed into the bathroom. She locked the door and tried to hold back the tears that threatened to fall.

"…why did I do that?"

She leaned over the sink and stared down at the drain. 'Why am I always like that?' She looked up into the mirror and gave her face a good look. 'They said they liked me, why did I assume they were making fun of me…?'

"They probably were," she said aloud. "I dress like a boy, and I'm too muscly…" she trailed off, sniffling and trying to hold back tears. 'Stupid dojo, stupid swordsmanship,' she grumbled mentally.

Several minutes passed as she looked down into the drain, trying to clear her mind.

"I can't keep doing this," she said aloud as she stood up and looked in the mirror again, unable to meet even her own eyes. "It's one or the other. Do I try to act like a girl, or do I keep following orders?" It was a question she had posed to herself many times in the past, and each time it had gone unanswered. It was as she pondered this question that she sensed something unnatural.

"Something dark's nearby…" she said aloud, her previous thoughts totally forgotten now that a possible emergency had come. She gave herself a quick look in the mirror to make sure no one could tell she had been crying, brushed some hair out of her face, and went out into the convenience store and into the street, determination in her step. Once outside, she paused a moment, looking around. Her finally honed senses told her which direction the dark thing had gone, and she followed.

* * *

Kagami faced the target and glared at it as she mentally prepared herself. "Sagitta magica una lucis!" she shouted, pointing the wand. Nothing happened. "Why won't it work?" she growled, shaking the wand as if it to dislodge a clog. Some of the other girls glanced her way.

Negi stood back and looked at her thoughtfully. He had given her some tips on spell casting, but thus far there had been no improvement. If anything, his help had been anything but; now, Kagami could barely get even the simplest spells to work. But a strange thought was brewing in the back of his mind, a random bit of information he had heard somewhere, but couldn't quite recall. Something about a mage in America who had an unusual method of spellcasting… There.

"I've got it!" Negi suddenly exclaimed, clapping his fist into the palm of his other hand.

"What?"

"Kagami-san! It's anime!" Negi exclaimed loudly.

"Um…Negi-sensei…?"

"It's simple; for whatever reason, you've mentally associated magical power with magical girl shows. Misa and Chisame both said you like them, so it's no wonder! I bet you've watched them since you were little, right? All you have to do is practice using the methods your favorite characters use!" It was obvious to anyone formally trained in magic. It was stated right there in one of the Laws of Magic Theory; basically, magic behaved the way a person believed it _should_. That was why one couldn't simply say some magic words they had just heard for the first time and shoot a perfect fireball. Magic just didn't work that way; it ran on faith and the belief that it should work the way you expect it to work built up over months or years of training, using a person's own magic power as the final spark to make it work.

'But Kagami-san must have quite a complex understanding of magic for it to affect her own spellcasting so deeply,' he thought. No doubt the simpler magic spells resembled what she had grown up with on TV, and so she subconsciously expected them to behave a certain way…

While Negi's mind rambled on and on, Kagami just stared at him in horror. Her secret, exposed in front of her classmates…! Why, if this were an anime, the color would have drained out of her and gathered in a puddle under her feet. Not to mention the thought of doing a transformation sequence…!

Taro snorted. "Go ahead, Kagami, I've got to see this."

Some of the others nodded in agreement. Frantically, Kagami turned back to Negi-sensei, only to be rendered blushing and helpless by the hopeful expression on his face.

"Go on, Kagami-san."

"But…I don't know…"

"It's easy! Just do your whole 'In the name of the moon' speech and streak through the target range," Taro said, grinning. Possum was facing the other way now, holding her stomach with one hand and using the other to cover her mouth in a badly failing attempt to hide her snickering. Kagami felt as if she could die. Even the _class rep_ of all people had to turn away for a moment to regain her composure.

"Shut up!" Kagami said testily. 'Try to embarrass me…I'll show them…!' She turned sideways, left side to the target, and held out her wand oddly. If it worked like she thought it did in the anime… "Starlight…"

Negi's eyebrows shot up as odd blue circles lit up around the wand and weird blue balls of light formed in the air. From what he could see, the circles were about as plain as they come, and the magic writing and symbols that appeared between them was just gibberish. Nevertheless, he could feel the energy gathering in the wand as it was sucked in from the surrounding atmosphere. He had never seen anything quite like it before…

"…Breaker!" Kagami shouted. For just an instant, nothing happened and she thought she had failed. But then the wand started to tremble with the power gathering at the tip. "W-wait, I-" She was cut off mid sentence and knocked back several steps by a tremendous blast of energy that vaporized the target, the backstop behind it, went straight through the storage building behind that, cut down several tress, and then passed through empty space until it hit the far wall of the resort and was absorbed in a brilliant, crackling light show.

"…wow…" Taro said suddenly. "Kagami, you've got my respect now. I don't know how you did that, but it was great!"

The others gathered around Kagami, congratulating her and asking questions.

"Y-yeah, that really _was_ great, wasn't it?" Kagami asked, still shaking from the adrenaline that had just been dumped into her system. That had been terrifying!

The class rep, Nakamura Sachiko, approached Negi as he looked thoughtfully at the destruction. "Will she be okay? That was a lot of power."

"Hmm..." Negi moved to stand where Kagami had been standing a moment earlier when she cast the spell and knelt down so he was at roughly Kagami's height. Sure enough, he could see a straight, neat tunnel through the debris to the far wall of the resort. He hadn't ever seen such a powerful blast that was as concentrated as that had been. This required further research. "Kagami-san, can you come here a moment?"

"Kagami-san!"

"Help me, we have to get her inside."

"This way! Eva-sensei said…"

Sure enough, Kagami had used far too much power and had passed out. Still…it had been amazing.

"Oh, master will be pleased with this," Chachazero said, grinning toothily.

* * *

Setsuna, eating a bowl of cheap ramen on a park bench, paused a moment and cocked her head to the side. Konoka, seated beside her, paused after a moment as well.

"Something's there, isn't it?" the Konoe heir asked.

"Yes. It's fairly weak so I didn't mention anything, but it's coming towards us. Can you tell where it is, Ojou-sama?" Setsuna asked. It was a test of Konoka's ability, something Setsuna had been doing more often lately in preparation for Negi's trip to the magic world.

Konoka looked around with a thoughtful expression on her face. "Hmm…in that clump of bushes," she said, tossing one of her chopsticks with a level of precision that would have been unheard of even a year ago. There was a brief rustle as whatever had been watching them ran away.

"Nicely done, ojou-sama," Setsuna said, smiling a little.

Konoka turned teary eyes on her.

"Kono-chan! I mean Kono-chan!" Setsuna corrected herself frantically.

"It isn't that…" Konoka said.

"Then what? Are you hurt? It hurt you, didn't it!" Setsuna said, putting a hand on her sword.

"No…" Konoka said, holding up her single chopstick as she cried waterfalls. "How can I finish my ramen with one chopstick?" she cried pitifully.

Setsuna slumped and passed her own pair to Konoka. 'Kono-chan…' she thought, and sighed heavily.

* * *

The beast scrambled away from the dangerous girl, jumping from shadow to shadow. While a death here on Earth wouldn't be permanent, the beast had no wish to be forcibly sent back to the other world by a demon slayer of the shinmeiryu. And to find two of them at the same time…! It had never been in such a dangerous situation before, ever. Not since it had first been spawned.

It made its way past several other dangerous ones, and was almost spotted by a particularly terrifying red haired whirlwind of death…if anything could kill it, that one could. And the energies swirling around this town…! It was as if someone had gathered many of the most powerful magic users in the world and crammed them all into this single town.

The beast was in such a hurry to get away from this dangerous place that it didn't even see the being of light and life until it bumped into her and was instantly purified into oblivion. The two dozen people who had been converging on its location paused, confused at its sudden disappearance.

* * *

"Natsumi-chan? Is something wrong?" Chizuru asked.

"Y-yeah, I think," Natsumi replied. What was that? It felt like something had bumped into her... "I'm okay, though."

"You sure about that?" Kotarou asked from her left side as he hesitantly took her hand.

Natsumi blushed and looked down at the ground, but nodded anyway. "Something felt weird for a minute, but it's gone now.

"Indigestion?"

"That's not something you ask a nice young woman," Chizuru scolded.

* * *

The bland man's expression tightened for an instant and his whole body jerked before he regained control and relaxed again in his seat. He picked up his cup with hands still shaking from the feedback of the familiar's purification and took a sip. A quick glance showed the other patrons in the small outdoor café hadn't noticed anything strange about him, so he took a few slow breaths and tried to calm down.

The familiar had been instantly purified, dissolved into nothingness in the space of half a second, burned away completely by some tremendous force. And the feedback…he should have had time to close the link between them, but it had all happened too quickly. That blast…if Jonus had been any normal sort of vampire, it would've killed him. He laughed without quite meaning to, a frazzled little giggle that caused some of the other patrons to glance his way.

* * *

Meanwhile, inside Fulcanelli's Materials, the magic shop where she usually got most of her supplies, Eva paused as her gaze focused on something far away.

"Master, is something wrong?" Chachamaru asked.

Eva lowered the empty spellbook she had been about to look at and smiled evilly, unwittingly exposing a fang. "No, nothing's wrong Chachamaru. It's just that an old acquaintance has decided to come for a visit," she answered, the evil grin deepening.

"Th-that'll be four thousand yen," the clerk said hesitantly.

"Hmm? Oh. Chachamaru, pay the man," Eva said as she grabbed the bag containing her purchases and headed for the door.

"Yes, master."

* * *

Chisame blinked into existence in Hodge's bar, sat down on a stool, and slumped forward onto the bartop, where she let out a long sigh.

"You know, if you keep treating him like that, you'll never get what you want," the elegant woman with the pipe said from her place two stools down. She looked over and gave Chisame a gentle, knowing smile.

"I didn't ask for your opinion, Elle," Chisame said angrily as she pushed herself up off the bar. "Hodge, whiskey. Five shots." She heard a disapproving 'hmph' from the back corner, so she shot the old man sitting there an annoyed frown. He shrugged in response and went back to his drink.

"Going heavy today, are we?" Elle asked, tapping the bar top with her forever-unlit pipe as she shifted subtly, the material of her dress reflecting light that seemed to come from nowhere in particular. "That's not good for a girl your age, is it?"

"I didn't ask you," Chisame said. "And besides, it's not like that matters anymore, right?" she said bitterly as she picked up the first glass. "I swear, if it doesn't work this time and they all get killed, I'll…"

"You'll what?" the bartender asked, his expression unchanging as he polished an already clean glass with a rag.

Chisame glanced up at Hodge, but the bartender only had his usual stoic expression in place. The grey and brown tabby that wandered around constantly was sitting on the top of the bar, watching her. Chisame sighed as she rubbed the cat's head absently. "I don't know. I'll probably get raging drunk, trash the bar, and pass out in a pool of vomit, just like last time," she said bitterly. She drained the first shot glass and reached for the next.

* * *

_**Author's Notes**: Now what's all this about, then? 'Just like last time'? Hmm... Also, Kara's an angsty oblivious idiot and Kagami's gone all anime on us.  
_

* * *

Chachazero - Sadistic Laughing Doll

Born - ?

Height - 2'

Likes: Knives, swords, blades, axes, spikes…

Dislikes: Being bored

Little Known Facts: Back when Eva was still human, Chachazero belonged to a sickly young noble girl. She gave Chachazero to Eva before her family moved out to another place near the sea, and Eva never saw her again. While Chachazero doesn't remember this, she sometimes dreams of a sad little girl brushing her hair.

* * *

Asakura Kazumi – Amused Reporter of Many Skills

Born - 1/10/1989

Height - 5'6"

Likes: The limelight, attention, teasing others

Dislikes: Disasters, people getting hurt, playing politics

Little Known Facts: The inner workings of her mind have a much more serious tone than her outward personality suggests

* * *

Hasegawa Chisame - A Mystery Wrapped Up In An Enigma Hidden In A Conundrum Carefully Inserted Into A Riddle Borne By A Paradox Buried In Lunchroom Mystery Meat

Born - 2/2/1989

Height - 5'5"

Likes: Tech, videogames, problem solving

Dislikes: Things that don't go according to plan

Little Known Facts: She is quite fond of her old classmates


	25. Ch 23 Intruder pt 2

**Still Waters 3, Chapter 23, Intruder Part 2**

* * *

_Monday, June 15th, 2009, after school_

* * *

"Don't worry about it, Eva-chan! I'll take care of li'l Possum here," Yuuna said as she leaned on the protesting girl, an arm draped around the student's neck. "I always wanted an apprentice!"

Eva had instructed the first team, consisting of Possum Cade, Urashima Taro, Nakamura Sachiko, and Mochizuki Kagami, to assemble in the resort immediately after school for the beginning of their special training. Naturally, they had been quite nervous. And now this crazy woman had appeared again and grabbed Possum...

Eva just cocked an eyebrow as she looked from Yuuna to Possum and back as if weighing the potential costs and benefits. She rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "Fine. But I'm warning you now, Akashi Yuuna! If I am not satisfied with your work, you will join them in their training," she said, bobbing her head toward the new students. "You know what sort of training I'm talking about."

"Don't worry about it, it'll be fine!" Yuuna said carelessly, a single drop of sweat betraying her horror as it rolled down her face.

"Hmph. Don't disappoint me," Eva said as she crossed her arms. "Go on."

"Yeah, come on Possum-kun!" Yuuna said as she marched toward the teleporters. "Let's go to the desert!"

"But-wah!" Possum cried out as Yuuna snagged her arm and tugged her along.

Yuuna turned to look at the others as she dragged their classmate away and gave a quick, mock salute. "Good luck, kids! Pay attention, there will be a test afterwards! Ahahaha!" Yuuna dragged Possum onto the teleportation circle, and they were gone a moment later. A worried silence descended over the entry platform as the remaining students contemplated Possum's abduction and Eva's cryptic remarks about their future training.

Kagami turned nervously to Taro. "Hey...you don't think-"

"Quiet!" Eva bellowed. Kagami got quiet, and the corner of Eva's mouth twitched upward. Now _that_ was the sort of thing she liked to see in her students.

"Now, we have a lot to do today, so pay attention!"

* * *

"So!" Yuuna said, standing on a dune as she eyed Possum in the hot, sandy desert training environment of Eva's resort, only recently reopened after its near destruction by Misa some time back. The wind blew the fine sand around in increasingly irritating fashion, and she noticed the younger girl had already hunkered down in the ground, and seemed to be trying to digging in an attempt to push the loose sand into a makeshift windbreak. 'Silly Possum, don't you know that'll never work with sand of that type? Oh well...now for something important!' Yuuna thought gleefully as she whipped out her pactio card and held it up. "Hey Possum-kun, do you know what this is?" she said, shouting in order to be heard over the wind.

Possum glanced up and eyed the card for a moment. "A pactio card, isn't it? A few of the others had them..." She said, then continued pushing sand.

Yuuna just looked at the girl for a moment. 'Geez, no curiosity...' "That's right! It's my pactio card! I wanted to get one with Negi-kun, but it ended up being with Max-sensei, since he was the one there at the time," she said sadly, finishing up with a sad shake of her head as she knelt over the girl. "Do you know how to make a pactio with someone? You have to ~kiss~ It tasted like coffee, by the way," she said conspiratorially into Possum's ear. She was pleased to see a tinge of pink appear in the girl's cheeks, and grinned. So Possum-kun was easy to embarrass? This might be more fun than she had thought!

"Anyway!" Yuuna said, standing up straight again and puffing out her considerable chest as she struck a confident pose. "Here we go!" She went through a series of poses straight out of a super sentai show, ending up in a ridiculous one-legged stance with one arm flung up above her head and the hand holding her pactio card thrust out before her, and shouted "Adeat!"

There was a surge of magical power, and Possum looked up. Yuuna's casual shorts and tanktop disappeared, replaced by a tough-looking pair of jeans and a long sleeved shirt and vest covered by a long, loose desert-worn poncho that did a fair job of covering her arms as it billowed out dramatically behind her in the wind, topped off by an equally desert-worn cowboy hat and a pair of rugged, low-heeled boots. 'Just like the Man With No Name!' Yuuna thought with fierce pride. She cocked her head to the side and smirked at her new apprentice. "So, how do you like it?" she asked playfully. The younger girl looked up at her, surprised and trying to shield her face from the wind-blown sand, and Yuuna smirked. "Hu hu hu. Look at this!" she said, whipping the poncho back to reveal the two gun belts slung low around her hips. She drew the twin revolvers with the ease and speed of a veteran gunslinger, spun them around fancily for a moment, and dropped them back into their holsters with the sort of casual carelessness of someone who had performed that particular move in front of a mirror for hours. "But that's not all!" she said as she reached back behind her and slipped her arms up the back of the poncho. She smirked at the sheer _awesome_ she exuded as she whipped out a sawn-off shotgun with one hand and a large bowie knife with the other. With a casual flick of her hand, she swung the shotgun up to rest on her shoulder while idly twirling the almost two-foot bowie knife around her index finger of her free hand. "I shoot first and ride hard, and I'm not afraid to play dirty! I'm the Morning Star Of The West, Akashi Yuuna! But you can call me...Yuuna*kid!"

Possum had gone back to frantically digging her windbreak.

Yuuna slumped. Damn brat! Probably hadn't even _heard_ of Clint Eastwood! What had become of the world these days she wanted to know, when a kid wouldn't even show respect for the classics? She grumbled for a moment until she realized Possum was trying to say something. "What?" she shouted to be heard above the wind, still basking in the sheer awesome radiating around her (even if her brat of an apprentice refused to admit it!).

Possum repeated herself, shouting this time. "I said I can't hear a word you're saying! The wind is too strong!" she said, trying to shield her face from the flying sand as she spoke.

Yuuna blinked at her, surprised. "...huh. I guess you don't know any basic shielding spells yet... Well, let's go someplace else then! Come on!"

* * *

Eva waited impatiently while the three ragged girls assembled before her in the pine forest environment in the resort. She eyed the trio critically...it had taken almost three minutes for them to limp into position after their brutal first training session; totally unacceptable. Urashima Taro had even forgotten her wand! What sort of idiot went to magic training without their wand? But at least she had had the common sense to bring along one of the collapsible practice wands Negi always handed out whenever someone new first started their magic training; apparently she carried it around in her back pocket. That was a terrible place to put a practice wand! Eva sighed and rubbed her forehead. Pathetic, just pathetic. But at least the three had survived their first taste of her special training; three on one combat sure could be fun... But enough of that; it was time to give them their homework.

"Urashima Taro, Nakamura Sachiko, and Mochizuki Kagami…I have called the three of you here for a good reason," Eva stated, carefully observing every reaction. Taro was idly looking up at the sky with feigned indifference and barely masked excitement, her bruises and scrapes already fading, while Kagami was simply looking down at the ground and fidgeting like mad, almost asleep on her feet from all the power she had used. Thus far, Nakamura was keeping her head far better than the other two; an admirable ability, and one that Eva watched for in an apprentice. The girl's professionalism was unparalleled within the class, and especially among this paltry group. At least it looked like the first day of combat training had taught Kagami a little humility; power was nothing without control, something the girl had learned firsthand today. Taro had put up a good showing as well, but the biggest surprise had without a doubt been Nakamura. Eva had heard about her from the others, even watched the girl spar a few times, but hadn't really been prepared for the way she fought. There was something there in the way the girl moved when she spun around that seemed just the tiniest bit _off_, but Eva couldn't quite put her finger on it; it simply hadn't developed enough, and virtually anyone else but Ku Fei or the boy would have probably missed it altogether. With time, Nakamura might develop into a great fighter, one of the best, maybe, and Eva wanted to see it happen. Granted, none of them had managed to land a single hit today (or even come close for that matter), but they had done quite well nonetheless. She had high hopes for this group...not that she would tell them that.

"There is an intruder in Mahora," Eva said. She paused for a long moment to let that sink in. Taro's gaze snapped to Eva's face, her barely concealed excitement plain to see for anyone not considered legally blind, while Kagami froze in place, eyes widening slightly as she stared at the ground. Nakamura continued to watch her closely, her expression probing and unchanged.

"Is something wrong, Nakamura?" Eva asked.

"If there is an intruder, why don't the security teams take care of it?" Sachiko asked.

Eva nodded at the girl, a little surprised she hadn't jumped to conclusions yet, like the other two. "That is a good question, and this is the answer: _because I asked them not to._ It isn't often that we get an intruder of this caliber, and I felt it would be a good test. You three will capture this intruder." She raised an eyebrow at Mochizuki's shocked expression and Urashima's gleeful expectation. And again, Nakamura simply watched her. Eva frowned slightly as the little muscle at the corner of her eye began to twitch. On second thought, Nakamura would make a terrible apprentice; apprentices were no fun if you couldn't rile them up from time to time.

"Um…I have a question," Kagami said, raising her hand.

Eva pinned her with a deathglare. "What is it?"

Kagami shrank back a little, but managed to speak up anyway. "I was specifically told not to do this sort of thing…"

Eva just raised an eyebrow and just _looked_ at Kagami until the girl squirmed. "What, are you stupid? This isn't a request. You three _will_ go after this intruder, and you three _will_ capture him. But it won't be easy. In fact, you might die. But don't worry, I'm sure at least one of you will survive," Eva said lightly, easily hiding the secret joy she got from the surprised and somewhat freaked out expressions on Urashima and Mochizuki's faces. Again, Nakamura's face was still. Damn brat.

"What sort of intruder are we talking about, here?" Taro asked, her enthusiasm showing through clearly as her mind wound back around to the fighting aspect of their new mission.

Eva waved her hand. "It's a fairly low level spirit, nothing serious. Normally Reiko would take care of something like this, but…" Eva let that thought hang in the air for a moment. She knew these three didn't know the girl, had barely even seen her before, but she was still an ally and a close friend of their teacher, and that sort of thing affected you no matter who you were. "You three will go to the library and read up on practices for combating the supernatural. Ask for Miyazaki. If anyone there wants to know why, just tell them it's a request from me; that should shut them up. Don't tell _anyone _any details about this, no matter what, or you will have to answer to _me_," Eva said, then made a grin that would best be described as more toothy than an alligator. Her grin widened even further in triumph when Nakamura's eyes widened slightly. So _that_ got through to her…! "Now go; the hunt starts soon."

Eva watched the trio as they limped to the teleporter and her grinned became more natural, amused. This could prove to be interesting...

* * *

Taro, Kagami, and Sachiko walked in silence on the entry platform until they reached the resort's exit portal.

"So, what do you guys think?" Taro asked after a moment as she paused beside the circle. She found her mind wandering back to the mission Eva had given them. It made her oddly proud, actually, to think Eva had decided they were strong enough to take care of something like this...! She felt herself grinning, and couldn't help it.

"I think Eva's insane," Kagami said grumpily.

Taro laughed and turned toward Sachiko. "Hey Iincho, how about you?"

Sachiko glanced at her two companions, then looked down at her hands. "I don't know, it doesn't make sense. Why have the three of us hunt down this 'intruder'? We barely have any training…"

Taro and Kagami looked at each other, and Taro smirked wickedly. Nothing the class rep could say could ruin her mood, not today. "What? What is this? Is the immutable class rep actually _worried_?"

Kagami looked at Taro and mouthed _immutable…?_ Where had Taro learned a word like that?

"It means unchangeable," Sachiko said for Kagami's benefit, then turned to Taro. "And yes. Yes I am."

Taro's mouth dropped open.

* * *

The walk to Library Island from Eva's cabin was fairly long, and left the trio with plenty of time to talk, argue, and think about what Eva had asked-no, demanded of them. It was actually Kagami and Taro who did most of the talking; Sachiko only broke in to correct a mistake or provide a different view on things. In the end, however, it all boiled down to two simple facts: none of them had any idea what they were getting into, and knowing Eva even as little as they did, they found this fact to be very distressing.

Sachiko paused upon reaching the foot of the bridge to Library Island and turned to Taro and Kagami. "Do either one of you know this 'Miyazaki' Eva-san wanted us to find?"

Taro and Kagami shook their heads.

"No clue, but I bet he's old, like forty," Taro said after a moment's thought.

"Yeah, bald with white hair sticking out from the sides of his head," Kagami said, smiling a little as she grasped at anything to distract her from the humiliating lesson Eva had taught her this morning.

"Yeah, yeah. And glasses. The really thick kind with black plastic rims," Taro said, building the image further as she held her hands up to demonstrate.

"He'll be really tall, six feet at least, and have old fashioned clothes," Kagami said. "And a lab coat!"

Taro nodded. "Yeah, and he'll smell like old moldy books. And onions."

"And smoke. He probably smokes a pipe all the time; you know, one of those old English ones that are huge with all the fancy decorations," Kagami said, gesturing wildly.

Taro nodded, barely able to contain her laughter. "Yeah, yeah! Ha, isn't that great, Iincho?" she asked, elbowing Sachiko.

Sachiko, who had been looking at the library building across the bridge, turned to look at Taro and stated with her face perfectly straight, "Yes," then turned back toward the building.

Taro and Kagami looked at each other a moment, then back at Sachiko, who had started across the bridge. They followed.

"You know Kagami, you're not bad," Taro said after a moment of walking. _Man_ this bridge was long...!

"…excuse me?" Kagami said, giving her a look.

Taro shrugged. "At first I thought you were one of those irritating girls who only likes gossip and designer purses, but you're not. You're pretty cool. And you can do some wicked strong magic too," she said, recalling Kagami's-admittedly failed-improvisation during their training this morning. Eva had easily evaded the giant beams Kagami shot out, of course, but still...pretty cool.

Kagami was taken aback by this. "Er…thanks, I guess. But what about you? I thought you were just a bully at first, but you're pretty nice when people get to know you."

Taro spluttered indignantly for a moment at being called a bully until her brain caught up with the rest of what Kagami had said. She stopped walking and looked at Kagami, mouth moving soundlessly as she tried to form words. Kagami thought she was nice? That...that was... "Nobody's ever said that to me before…"

"…really?"

"Never."

"…wow…" Kagami said. "What about her, though?" she said, wisely deciding that a distraction was necessary at this point, nodding at Sachiko, who was about thirty feet ahead of them at this point. "What do you think about the class rep?"

"Oh, Iincho? She's weird," Taro said as she shrugged, shaking her head. Definitely weird. Weird personality, weird way of fighting, weird sense of humor...just _weird_.

"Yeah," Kagami said as she watched Sachiko. "Did she really beat you in a fight?"

Taro winced at the memory, but nodded. "Yeah. She has this weird spinny way of fighting that I've never seen before. It's really weird; you think the attack's going to come from high up on the right, and then your legs get swept out from under you from the left. Then, next time when you think you're ready for it, the attack comes smashing down from above with the exact same setup as before! I don't know how she does it, and she won't explain it to me. It's very annoying! Anyway, she says it's capoeira, but I looked it up on the internet in the computer room and that's a lot different from what she's doing."

"Oh."

"…other than Asuna-sempai, she's the first person to beat me since my big sis Kanako."

"Really?" Kagami asked, interested in spite of herself. She had watched Taro spar with others, and she always put in a good effort; the only people who could beat her regularly were some of those strange women who hung around with Negi-sensei...Asuna and Ku Fei, she thought their names were. The others never sparred with the younger students. "How long ago was that?"

Taro shrugged. "About five years, I guess? Before I had to leave, Kanako-nee said I was even giving _her_ a little trouble, and she's one of the best fighters I ever saw," she said proudly. It always made her feel good to brag about Kanako-nee, even if she wasn't really her sister. The duo fell into silence as they stepped off the bridge and onto Library Island, and made their way across the wide plaza before the library to catch up with the class rep, who stood beside the front entrance, watching them.

"We're here," Sachiko said when they joined her at the library doors.

"Yup," Taro said as she looked up at the towering building, craning her neck back. "It's huge! I've never been this close to the place before…I think this might be the biggest building I've ever seen!"

"The St. Ursula high school covers more area, but the main library building has far more space inside," Sachiko explained as she opened the door and led the way inside.

* * *

"Oh, that feels good," Kagami said as a rush of cool air from inside the building greeted her.

If Taro had been impressed by the exterior, the interior blew her away. The central room was enormous, the single biggest open space her or Kagami had ever seen inside a building; covered in lavish carvings and decorations, it utterly lacked the sterile nature of more modern libraries while completely avoiding the dark creepiness of an old fashioned library. Instead, it gave one a sense of that infamous upper class Victorian era hopefulness, as if anything was possible. It was an unusual feeling, but Taro decided she liked it.

Sachiko led them to the front desk.

"Welcome to the library, how can I help you?" the young, blue haired librarian asked, smiling pleasantly.

Taro and Kagami looked at each other and Kagami mouthed 'Where have I seen her before…?', but Sachiko saved them the trouble of deciding who would speak. "Thank you for the welcome. We are doing research on special subjects for Evangeline A.K. McDowell. Specifically, supernatural creatures."

The librarian smiled wider and her eyes gleamed. "I understand." She turned around. "Yue, please watch the desk, I need to help these three." She was answered with a muffled 'yes' from the back somewhere, and turned back to the three girls. "Okay, please come this way," she said as she put on an armband and picked up a flag. Sachiko nodded and followed the blue haired woman as she led the way through the main room and off into a small side room, where she opened a door to reveal a spiral staircase leading down. Before long, Taro was completely lost in a maze of tunnels and secret passageways.

* * *

"Hey, do you really know where you're going?" Taro demanded after they moved into what had to have been their twenty-seventh tunnel. What kind of library _was_ this, anyway?

"Yes, we are almost there, please be patient," the librarian said absently, using the flashlight on her safety helmet to look at her map. "It should be…here," she said, leading them out of the narrow tunnel and into a small square room with a door. The woman opened the door and stepped through into a brightly lit room; Kagami, Taro, and Sachiko were forced to shield their eyes from the sudden glare.

"Come this way please," the woman instructed as she led them through the long, low-ceilinged room to an ancient card catalog. "What were you looking for, exactly?"

This time Taro spoke up, cutting off the class rep, who had just started to speak. "Well, she said she wants us to look up some information on how to beat supernatural creatures."

"Any type in particular?"

"No, not really. Just 'low level spirits', whatever that means," Taro replied offhand. She paused as the librarian gave her a serious look. "What?"

"So Eva wants you to research a 'low level spirit'…" she said to herself, then nodded. "Okay, I understand. Nelle!" she called out. "Nelle-chan, are you in here?"

Someone clapped loudly on the other end of the room and the four girls heard footsteps echoing on the hardwood floor until a friendly looking foreign girl in her late teens wearing a scarf wound tightly around her neck and a colorfully woven poncho-a _poncho _of all things!-came out from between two bookshelves and waved.

The librarian waved her over and turned to Taro, Sachiko, and Kagami. "This is Nelle, she is very knowledgeable in this subject; please ask her for anything you need."

"Yes, we will. Thank-" Sachiko started.

"Wait! I remember now! You're Honya!" Taro said suddenly, interrupting Sachiko yet again.

"That's right!" Kagami said suddenly as Taro's exclamation sparked her recognition and she recalled where she had seen the librarian before. "We saw you at Eva's resort! It was in that main part, you know, the one with the rocks and tables and trees?" she added, looking at Taro, who nodded.

Nodoka smiled awkwardly at them.

Sachiko shot both of them a look and started again. "Thank you for the help, miss…?"

"Nodoka. Miyazaki Nodoka. If you need anything, just use the internal telephone system," she said, pointing to a conveniently placed wall phone by the door. "Have fun!" And with that, the bluenette left.

Taro watched the librarian leave, then turned on the newcomer, eyeing that ridiculous poncho she wore. "So, how are ya?" Taro asked the newcomer, then continued on before she could answer. "We're looking for stuff on how to beat weak spirits, or something like that. What've you got?"

Nelle smiled shyly at the three girls, then pulled out a pocket-sized notebook and a pencil and wrote something on a piece of paper, which she passed to Taro.

"Let's see…" Taro said curiously as she took the piece of paper and gave it a good look. "It says 'Hello, I'm mute, so I have to do this to communicate with you. Please forgive the trouble.'" Taro frowned and took a deep breath as she leaned in close to poncho-girl. "IT'S NO TROUBLE, DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT!"

Nelle jerked away, blinking, and put a hand over her ear.

"You idiot, just because she's mute doesn't mean she's deaf," Kagami complained. That had been _loud._

"Well how was I supposed to know?" Taro demanded.

"Common sense?" Kagami replied, utterly deadpan.

"Urashima-san, Mochizuki-san, please calm yourselves," the class rep said, then turned her attention to Nelle. "I apologize for their behavior. Can you help us find what we need?"

Nelle nodded and smiled, then took Sachiko's hand and lead her deeper into the stacks.

* * *

The two men grinned at the girl they had cornered in the dead end alley. They didn't mean any harm, not really, but…it had just been a long time since either one of them had had any fun, and, well, the girl was hot. _Really_ hot.

"Hehehehe," one of them giggled.

Madoka shuddered at that. That was just so…so freaking _girly_! And not in the good way, either. Ugh… "Look, I'm not interested," she said for the third time.

"Oooh, come on now, it'll be fine. Come on, we'll buy the beer and everything!"

Madoka sighed. Idiots, idiots everywhere. Drunken ones, too. "It's four o'clock in the afternoon," she pointed out.

"…so?"

She shook her head sadly and brushed by them on her way back toward the street. Idiots, why couldn't they-

One of them grabbed her arm, and she stopped.

"Hey, that was rude, you shouldn't just brush us off like that, you know?"

"Yeah, don't you know who I am? My brother's in deep with the Ace of Spades! If you mess with me, he'll get her on yer tail and then you're gonna…uh…regret…messin with me! Yeah!" the man said lamely, the vague threat left unfinished.

Uh oh.

"So you know someone who knows the Ace of Spades. Tell me, what's she like?" Madoka asked, her voice and eyes suddenly blank in a way that would have let anyone intelligent know that they were treading on thin ice.

"Well, they say she's huge, like six feet tall, maybe two hundred pounds of muscle at least to do what they say she's done," the first one said, heedless of his rapidly approaching doom.

"Yeah, probably uses steroids and stuff, and you know what they say about girls that do that sort of thing," the second man said in disgust, even more oblivious than his companion, his expression that of the perpetually buzzed.

"Yeah, pretty gross. She's probably about as smart as an ox, but my brother's in deep with her, so she'll do whatever he says."

"She'll do whatever he says, will she?" Madoka asked, her voice taking on a dangerous edge.

"Yeah." The two men nodded.

"Strong as an ox and just as dumb, is she?" she continued, the corner of her eye twitching dangerously

"Yup, yup. That's right." The two men nodded again.

"A stupid muscle bound freak of nature, is she?"

"Yeah, that's what we said. Is your hearing bad or something? Uh…hey, are you okay? Your face is getting kind of red…" the first man said.

"Yeah, and you're sort of glowing, like they do in anime. It's all pretty and blue," the second man said, then rubbed his eyes as if to clear them.

"Come here you two, we need to have a little discussion," Madoka said, reaching up and slinging an arm around each man's neck as she dragged them back toward the back of the dead-end alley, from which the sounds of a brief but brutal struggle soon came. After a moment, Madoka exited the alley alone, wiping dirt and what looked suspiciously like blood from her hands as she returned to where she had left Ako a moment earlier.

"Ah…is it okay, Madoka? Do I need to call an ambulance…?" Ako asked.

"Don't worry, they'll be fine. I swear, I'll never hear the end of that stupid story. This whole Ace of Spades thing is all Misa's fault!" Madoka grumbled as she walked along beside Ako. She stuck her hand in her pocket and felt the flexible metal mask she had taken from a poor possessed girl several years before. It was warm, like it always got when she had been fighting.

"I don't think she expected it to get so out of hand," Ako said after a moment.

"Yeah, but you know Misa. _Everything_ she does gets out of hand, sooner or later. Seems like she'd know better by now," Madoka complained, recalling what had led to this whole fiasco. Stupid Misa, convincing her to put on the mask so she wouldn't be recognized while she beat up that group of bank robbers…! Everything had snowballed ridiculously from there, and the so-called Ace of Spades had become Mahora's unofficial first superhero. Well, more like second. The original Ace of Spades about a decade back had been the first. Madoka heaved a long-suffering sigh; it was something she had done with increasing frequency this past year as the idiots seemed to come out of the woodwork.

The two of them lapsed into a comfortable silence for a while as they walked until they finally came to a stop in front of a guitar shop, which they entered.

Madoka went over to look at the guitars while Ako approached the counter.

"How can I help you?" the man behind the counter asked, then looked up from his inventory sheet and immediately recognized the customer. "Hey, Ako-chan! Your new bass is here, do you want to see it?"

Ako nodded, and the man went into the back room to retrieve her instrument.

* * *

Kobayashi Ayumi had been browsing the guitar straps, killing time while the tech guy in the back room worked on her guitar. It seemed to be taking him longer than usual, and she was starting to grow bored when she heard the counter guy greet a new customer.

"Hey, Ako-chan! Your new bass is here, do you want to see it?"

'Ako-chan?' Curious, Ayumi peaked around the edge of a display stand for guitar strings. She recognized the bassist from her idol Misa's band immediately, then spotted the rhythm guitarist on the other side of the store, looking at an expensive acoustic guitar. She grinned excitedly as she decided upon her next course of action.

* * *

"Here you go, Ako-chan," the guy behind the counter said as he returned, passing a huge triangular cardboard box over the counter to Ako. "You know that's the best shape a box can be," he said, grinning.

Ako carefully placed the box on the counter and cut the tape holding it shut. Madoka drifted over to watch, and Ayumi, hiding behind the string rack, craned her neck so she could see what was happening.

Ako pulled the box open and Madoka whistled appreciatively. "Nice one, Ako. I always liked that style…"

Ako nodded, smiling, as she pulled the odd V-shaped bass guitar from it's box. Madoka snagged a guitar strap from a nearby rack and handed it to her, and watched as Ako tried it on.

"It's _very _ nice," Ako said, smiling gently as she gave the strings a few experimental plucks and began putting it in tune.

* * *

Ayumi blinked once, twice, and let out a disappointed breath. 'That's it? What's so great about that? It doesn't look any good, it's all wood colored!' She marched around the stand and smacked the counter, giving the clerk a 'hey you, c'mere' sort of wave. She smiled distractedly at Ako and Madoka, who didn't even look at her, and waited impatiently, tapping her fingers on the counter, while the clerk finished filling out the delivery forms for Ako's new bass.

"Can I help you?" he asked when he was finished with the forms.

Ayumi leaned forward on the section of counter not currently occupied by a cardboard guitar box, carefully positioned her forearms to make the neckline of her shirt loose so it stood away from her skin for the best effect, and made what she thought was a sultry smile. "Is my SG ready?"

The clerk sweatdropped and backed away surreptitiously on the pretense of putting away a pen. He couldn't get away from the feeling that this girl was going to get herself in a lot of trouble one day; she looked for all the world like a housecat that thought it was a tiger. "Hold on just a sec, I'll check," he said as he hurried into the backroom, leaving Ayumi, Ako, and Madoka alone in the front room.

* * *

"Oh man, that creepy girl's out there asking about her SG again. Are you done yet Keiji?" the clerk asked the tech guy, who was bent over the guitar. "What the hell, you don't even have the strings back on yet!"

"Hey, relax Ryuji. Check out this paint job. It was a mess before so I understand you not stopping to look, but _damn…_ whoever did this is _good_. Just look at the detail in the succubus' hair…"

The clerk, Ryuji, paused to take a closer look. "…wow, you're right. Too bad she didn't put one of those clear pickguards on it; the painting's getting scratched up. But you don't think _she_…" he paused as the image of housecat girl bending over the guitar and painting with a tiny brush formed in his mind.

"Nah," they both said at once.

"Whoever it was, I'd like to hire them to do some custom work here; there's always a demand for that sort of thing, you know?"

"Yeah…" Ryuji said. "I'll see if she'll tell me who it was."

"Good luck with that," the tech guy said as he opened a drawer and took out a set of guitar strings.

Ryuji allowed himself one last shudder and steeled himself to face the confused little girl that thought she was a woman. Well, if it was any consolation, at least the other two, the _real_ musicians, were in the store; housecat girl might get a clue and stop playing around when someone was there to see.

* * *

Madoka glanced up from Ako's new instrument and caught the oddly familiar girl waiting at the counter looking at her. "Er…hello," she said.

"Hello," the strange girl said in a friendly manner.

Madoka looked at the girl looking at her for a moment longer, then turned to Ako. "I think it's time to go. Did you get that thing paid up already?"

Ako nodded as she slipped the guitar strap up over her head and moved to put the bass guitar back into its box.

"Good. Let's go."

"Have you seen Misa-sama lately?" the girl at the counter asked.

Madoka somehow managed to avoid bursting into laughter. Misa-sama? _That_ was a good one…! She heard a strangled sound and looked up, only to see Ako barely managing to hide her own laughter.

"Have you?" the girl at the counter insisted.

Madoka, with a supreme effort of will, again avoided explosive laughter as she gave the girl another look and finally recognized her. "You're…Ayumi? Ayami?"

"Kobayashi Ayumi," Ayumi said helpfully. "Remember? From that battle of the bands thing a while back?"

Madoka nodded. "Yeah, I remember now. Imagine that, we all use the same guitar shop."

"Yeah," Ayumi said.

They looked at each other a moment.

"Well, we've gotta go," Madoka said, edging toward the door. For some reason, Ayumi freaked her out.

"Wait a minute! Please! There's something I want to show you," Ayumi said, reaching out as if to grab Madoka's wrist. She stopped with her hand outstretched about six inches away.

Madoka paused and looked at Ako, who shrugged. "Fine," she said. "What is it?"

"You'll see in a minute," Ayumi said, smiling hugely.

Again, Madoka felt a bizarre urge to laugh. Ayumi obviously felt as if she was at the very least on equal footing with Ako, though she seemed to regard Madoka as being on some higher plane. Apparently Ayumi was one of those people who felt that bassists and drummers were strictly bottom-rung types, way below the guitarists. Then there was all that 'Misa-sama' business…

The clerk came out, looking as if he were about to eat rat poison. "Uh…hey. Kobayashi-san. Can you come here a moment? Keiji's got a question-"

The clerk was interrupted by an irritated cry of "Bastard!" from the back room. A moment later, the annoyed guitar tech brought out Ayumi's guitar and carefully placed it on the counter.

"Is something wrong?" Ayumi asked distractedly as she turned to face the tech.

"Wrong? No. It was just the usual; dirt and grime. It's all clean and everything's fixed up again. What I wanted to ask about is this," he said, gesturing to indicate the body of the guitar.

Ayumi looked at it blankly.

"The painting," he said after a moment's awkward waiting.

Ayumi looked from the guitar to the tech and back, and finally to the tech again. "Oh, is that all? What about it?"

The tech just looked at her, open mouthed. So _rude_…! "What I wanted to know," he said, gritting his teeth, "is who did it?"

"Miyako-chan did it because I asked her," Ayumi said, frowning slightly.

"Miyako-chan…does she go to school with you?" the clerk asked, then recalled who else was in his shop. He sent an awkward, apologetic glance at Madoka and Ako, who gave a pleasant smile in return.

"Yeah…she's the vocalist in my band."

The clerk and tech looked at each other, then back to Ayumi.

"She's the vocalist in your band," the clerk said, totally deadpan. It was obvious he didn't believe her, so she began explaining.

"It's true! You can ask them, we played in the same tournament!" Ayumi said, pointing at Madoka and Ako. The clerk and tech looked at them, then at each other, both of them wanting to ask the same question. 'Housecat girl's got a _real_ band?'

"It's true," Madoka said, grinning crookedly.

"Well anyway, is there any way we can get in touch with her?" the tech said. "This painting is very good, and we might have some work for her from time to time. Paid work, of course," he added hastily.

Madoka watched the back and forth with mild interest. It appeared that Ayumi wasn't just a typical airheaded teenage girl after all…she had a wicked sharp business sense. The clerk and tech were fairly weeping by the time she was through with them; it seemed Miyako, who Madoka recalled as a cute but shy girl, would be paid far, far more than the guys here at the shop had initially been expecting to pay. Well, good for her. "So, we'll be going now…" Madoka said again. "Hey Ryuji, how much for the guitar strap?"

The clerk glanced up sluggishly and waved his arm. "It's on the house," he said dejectedly.

"Wait wait wait!" Ayumi said. "This is what I wanted you to see!" she said, snatching her guitar from the counter and rushing over to Madoka and Ako. She held it up so they could see the paining, a very tastefully done succubus standing in the fires of hell, it's long hair blown by the wind _just so_ to avoid showing anything embarrassing. It was an amazing job, really.

"You know, that really _is_ nice," Madoka said after a moment. She would have to tell Misa about this; Misa was someone who could appreciate a well-done custom paint job on a guitar.

"See?" Ayumi said, pointing out the succubus.

That, Madoka thought a few minutes later after all the laughter had died down and Ayumi had stormed out in tears, was the point at which she should have just turned around and walked out the door.

"See? It's a horny little devil, just like me!"

* * *

Taro scribbled a bit of information into her notebook and leaned back in her chair, stretching her arms above her head. They had been at this for hours, and Taro's neck and lower back were killing her. She glanced over at the other two, but Iincho was as calm as ever and Kagami, though she looked even more uncomfortable than Taro felt, seemed engrossed in the book she was reading. How could those two stand to sit around like that for so long? Weren't they getting stiff and bored too? Taro jumped in surprise when the mute girl, Nelle, tapped her shoulder and motioned for her to follow.

Taro, eager for the chance to get out for a moment, stood up immediately and looked over at the other two. "I'll be back in a minute."

"Take your time," the class rep said without looking up from her book. Kagami just glanced up distractedly, then went back to her book.

Taro let Nelle lead her out through another door and into a long hallway similar to the type found in hospitals; clean and sterile looking, and totally devoid of character.

"So where are we going?" Taro asked after a moment. Nelle glanced back toward Taro and smiled reassuringly, but kept her silence as expected.

They went through another door, then another, down a long twisting hallway where their footsteps echoed crazily, opened a trap door and climbed down a long ladder, went through several hallways with a gentle downward slope, and finally through one last door, which opened on a vast underground chamber with a giant scaly..._thing _lying in the middle, blocking the already narrow walkway that spanned the cavern.

Taro was, quite understandably, freaked out; she grabbed Nelle's arm and dragged her back through the doorway behind them and slammed the door shut as soon as she had the other girl back in the room. "That was a dragon! Right? It had to be a dragon…!" It was huge! All big and green and scaly, and it had _wings_! Actual _wings_! Like something out of a fairy tale! She found herself alternating between exuberance and absolute terror almost as fast as she could think.

Nelle gave Taro's arm a tug toward the door, but Taro only backed away, shaking her head. Nelle shrugged and went back out into the cavern by herself.

"H-hey! Hey Nelle! Come back!" Taro said as she moved to the doorway and peeked out, watching in horror as Nelle walked right up to the dragon and looked up at it. The dragon looked down at the mute girl, snorted, and made a movement with its head as if saying 'Go on'.

Taro, surprised almost as much at not seeing the horrific death of her new acquaintance as she was at seeing a living, breathing dragon, had to take a moment to work up the nerve to go out there. For Taro, the hundred or so feet she had to cross to reach the dragon felt like the longest walk she had ever taken in her whole life. 'Is this what it feels like to be on death row…?' she thought idly, recalling various prison movies she had seen, where when it was time to take the prisoner to the electric chair the viewers were treated to the sight of the condemned man walking down an elongated prison hallway in slow motion. She wondered if her life would flash before her eyes, like they always said it did on TV and in books.

The dragon snorted at her and seemed to grin when she reached it, but it let her pass after what seemed an eternity, and she couldn't help but break into a run until she caught up to Nelle at the far side of the cavern. Taro kept looking back at the dragon as Nelle led her up some wide stairs and to a large door. Nelle pushed the door open and led Taro into another vast underground room with a huge, white, castle-like building in the center. A man in a hooded robe greeted them.

"Oh my, you are quite attractive for an Urashima," the man said by way of introduction.

The sudden change from fearing for her life to being teased like that snapped Taro out of her dragon-induced terror, and she rounded on the man. "What's that supposed to mean?" she demanded, balling her fists.

"It means what it means. I see you are quite healthy, as is to be expected from one of your bloodline," he continued, the smirk on his lips easily visible, though the top half of his face was hidden in the shadows cast by his hood. "Ah, please, forgive me. I have forgotten my manners," he said in a teasing tone of voice. "Welcome Nelle, welcome Urashima Taro-chan. You may call me Colonel Sanders."

"Colonel Sanders," Taro repeated, her voice flat and unbelieving. Wasn't that the chicken guy?

But the man had already turned to Nelle, and began to ruffle her hair. The mute girl swatted his hand away, took out her notebook and pencil and scribbled something fiercely, then plucked out the sheet of paper and shoved it into the man's face. Taro caught a glimpse of his face as he moved back, and frowned. Who _was_ this guy?

"Okay then, anything for you, Nelle-chan," he said, grinning as he ruffled her short hair again until she swatted his hand away. He turned to Taro and bowed elaborately. "My name is Albireo Imma. You may call me Al," he said.

"So…what, are you a mage or something?" Taro asked.

Al smiled enigmatically. "Would you like some tea?"

* * *

He led them into the castle-like building to a large, airy room with a small table where a tea set had already been laid out. "It is quite good," he said, pouring two cups, which he passed to the girls.

Taro eyed the cup suspiciously and looked over at Nelle, who quietly sipped her tea. Taro frowned; she wasn't much of a tea drinker, but forced herself to take a sip anyway. 'Ugh...' She quickly put the cup on the table and sat back awkwardly. She needed something carbonated... "So, why am I here?"

Al looked to the side, still smiling his secretive little smile. "You are one of the Urashima line, and you have abilities you probably don't even know about."

"Abilities? What do you mean?" Taro asked. The weird guy definitely had her attention now. She picked up the tea cup and took another experimental sip. Still disgusting.

"Well for one, you're likely all but immortal." That comment caught her by surprise and made her spit out the tea.

"…what? Say that again?" she demanded, wiping the tea off her chin with the back of her hand.

"You are all but immortal," Al repeated. "You age like everyone else, perhaps a bit more slowly, but injuries or sickness don't seem to last long. Tell me, when was the last time you got sick with anything worse than a cold?"

Taro thought about that for a moment. When _had_ she last been sick? Surely at _some_ point, but…

Taro's eyes widened. "…never…" she said, stunned that she had never noticed it before.

Al cocked an eyebrow. "Never?"

Taro shook her head. "No…"

"As I thought. How about that wound you received some time ago? A knife thrust on the lower left side, correct?" he asked.

Taro narrowed her eyes and nodded.

Al grinned enigmatically. "May I see the wound?"

Taro hesitated, then stood up and pulled the side of her shirt up a few inches, exposing nothing but clear skin with not even a faint scar to show where she had been stabbed by Hideki back in April.

Al nodded. "As I thought. You are aware, of course, that ragged knife wounds tend to leave disfiguring scars at the least, especially when less than two months have passed since the injury, correct?"

Taro frowned and turned away, but remained silent; Al's grin widened slightly.

"Now…you have also been introduced to ki attacks by our very own Asuna-chan," he said, then took another sip of tea.

Taro's frown deepened as her silence lengthened.

"Of course, no doubt the girl you call 'Kanako-nee' did the same. Or perhaps not, the Urashima family has been quite secretive of late, even among its own blood. In fact, it could be said that _you_ are hiding something from _them_ as well, could it not?" Taro just blinked at him, so he explained. "That necklace of yours," he said conspiratorially.

Nelle gave her a curious look, and Taro stiffened in her seat and her hand shot down to the pocket where she kept the heirloom from her mother. "It's not a necklace, it's a medallion!" she said defensively. How did he know about it? How _could_ he know about it? Not even Possum knew about her mother's medallion...!

Al grinned at her discomfort and took a sip of his tea. "Your cousin Urashima Keitaro in particular might be very interested to know about it. I understand he is an expert on the culture it seems to hail from-"

Finally Taro simply couldn't take it any more. "How do you know all this?" she demanded as she smacked the table. If he was stalking her...! She clenched her fists under the table. It was so frustrating! She had never seen this man before in her life, she knew that for a fact, and yet he knew so much about her! She hated to admit it, even to herself, but for the first time in a long time...she was actually kind of scared.

"People come and tell me things, for the most part. Other things I can see for myself. And one thing I can see, Taro-chan, is that you have a lot of potential," he said, looking her over and pausing on her chest. Taro stiffened, her face turning red as she prepared to kick his ass.

"Yeah, here and here," Chachazero suddenly said from beside her, poking Taro there and there.

"Gyaah…!"

"Ah, welcome Chachazero-san, I didn't see you come in," Al said cheerfully as the evil doll nimbly dodged a swat from Taro, who had nearly jumped out of her skin when Chachazero suddenly poked her.

"Hello Al. Master wants to hit you and then talk about why you called Taro-kun here," she explained, smiling her creepy doll smile at him as Eva stormed into the room.

"Yes, Al. Pray tell. And you," Eva said, glaring at Taro. "You're supposed to be in the library right now. Go," she ordered. "Both of you." She waited with her hands on her hips as Nelle and Taro left hurriedly, thoroughly chastened, then turned to the hooded man. "What are you doing, Al?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said pleasantly and took a sip of tea. His expression changed slightly as he stared at her over the edge of his teacup. "I could ask you the same thing. What do you hope to accomplish by making them face one of the self-styled 'Great Vampire Lords'?" he said, finishing with a smirk.

Eva frowned. "That is none of your concern."

"Now now, Kitty. There is no need to hide anything here! We should all relax and-waargh"

* * *

On the way back to the room they had left Sachiko and Kagami in, Taro had plenty of time to think. Honestly…immortality? Well, it was true that Keitarou-nii always got up again quickly after getting hurt, but she hadn't really ever thought about it much before. Haruka-nee-san was like that too, now that she thought about it. That would explain so, so much…she had to find a way to test this.

* * *

_**Author's Notes**: Kobayashi Ayumi has received a new title: Delusional Housecat Girl! Akashi Yuuna received two new titles: The Morning Star of the West, and Yuuna*Kid!  
_

_Was that amusing? ;p But anyway, in case you haven't figured it out yet, all this talk from Taro about "Kanako-nee" and "Keitarou-nii" and the Urashima clan is based on characters from Love Hina, Akamatsu's manga before he started Negima. If you haven't read it, you should. Anyway, I lost power for a long time due to tornado damage all over the area (yes, the tornadoes, note the plural form of the word, struck all over the south and destroyed stuff everywhere, not just in Tuscaloosa), so this chapter is being posted a week later than intended.  
_

* * *

Kasuga Misora - Fast Prankster Nun

Born - 4/4/1988

Height - 5'4"

Likes: Cocone, pranks, helping people, having authority

Dislikes: Being put into a position of authority

Little Known Facts: She so impressed her instructors in Rome after graduation that she was put straight into a highly secretive elite group that most people don't even know exists. (See short story How To Fight Zombies on this site)

* * *

Miyazaki Nodoka - Heroic Adventuring Archaeologist

Born - 5/10/1988

Height - 5'3"

Likes: Negi, books, archaeology

Dislikes: Nothing much

Little Known Facts: She occasionally daydreams about being the next Indiana Jones

* * *

Ayase Yue - Short Philosopher Archaeologist

Born - 11/16/1988

Height - 4'11"

Likes: Negi, Nodoka, Archaeology

Dislikes: Her height, lack of respect

Little Known Facts: Rumor has it that there are several mysterious pictures of her practicing her 'Baka Black' pose, but she vehemently denies any such thing or event ever existed, exists now, or ever will exist at any point in the future any time it is brought up.


	26. Ch 24 Intruder pt 3

**Still Waters 3, Chapter 24, Intruder Part 3**

* * *

Tuesday, June 16th, 2009, After School in the Swamp Environment of Eva's Resort

* * *

Gunshots rang out as Possum Cade darted into cover behind a huge Tupelo tree, panting for breath in the hot, humid air as she clutched the big stick that was her only weapon with both hands.

"Hahaha! Iiiii seeeee yoouuuu~"

Another shot whistled past Possum's ear and blasted a fist-sized chunk out of the tree, and she let out a startled shriek and ran away from the direction the shot had come as fast as she could go, bent low so as to offer less of a target, straining to get her racing heart back under control as she tore through the undergrowth in her way.

"Ahahahahaha!"

Another shot shattered the stick she had been carrying and she was pelted with six-inch splinters of wood, one narrowly missing her face as she instinctively jerked away. Her left foot hit a patch of boggy ground and she staggered, trying to regain her balance, but her next step sent her leg knee-deep into the sucking mud just easy as you please and she flailed wildly as she went over, pinwheeling her arms and knocking her head against a good-sized sapling hard enough to make her see stars. She lay there on her side in the mud and the muck for a moment, sinking slowly, too dazed and in pain from the blow to the head to even think of getting back out. It was only when she heard the maniac's laughter again that she snapped back to reality and realized her predicament. She recalled her great-grandmother's advice for situations like this, little nuggets of wisdom that basically amounted to one thing: stay calm, or the swamp will kill you. If you allowed yourself to panic in a place like this, you were as good as dead just from the swamp itself, not to mention the wildlife or whatever it is you're running from. She closed her eyes and took several long, deep breaths until she could feel her heartbeat start to slow down. Thinking quickly, she looked around for something to grab on to in order to pull herself out, and her eyes fell on the rolled over on her back in the soft mud, barely able to maintain her calm when she felt herself begin sinking into it; five or six inches in, the sinking slowed and then stopped, and she let out a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding. She slowly pulled her left hand from where it had been buried deep in the muck and began feeling around toward where she had last seen the sapling, which, now that she had rolled over on her back, she realized was actually quite tall and couldn't really be called a sapling at all. A moment later, questing fingers found the base of the tree and grabbed it. She quickly brought her other arm around and grabbed the tree's trunk with both hands, and began to slowly pull herself free.

Halfway through she felt the tree shift, and paused. She pulled on it again, very carefully, to see whether or not she might accidentally pull it out to land on top of her, but the small tree held so she continued. She had pulled herself half out of the quicksand by the time she heard the tree's shallow main root snap, and the whole mass of the tree began to fall forward straight onto her. Her eyes widening as she watched the tree coming down, she bit her lip and tugged as hard as she could. Her legs came free of the quicksand with maddening slowness and a long sucking sound and she scrambled up onto the relatively dry ground on the edge of which the small tree had been growing, and lay there for a moment, panting as she watched the small tree come to rest at a steep angle with its top tangled among the high branches of the trees across the way. That had been terrifying...!

"Huhuhu~"

Possum jerked clumsily up, but tripped over her own feet and fell again as Yuuna began clapping from across the small stretch of soft mud.

"Nice~ I always wondered how someone who grew up in a swamp would escape from quicksand," Yuuna said pleasantly. "Of course, if you were a mage you could just levitate yourself out of it, or use some kind of earth or water spell to make _it _do all the work, or even make vines or tree roots grow to get you out," she said, grinning wide. "Of course, that would probably use all the tree's energy and it'd die, but that's just the way things are sometimes, I guess. Or if you were desperate enough, you could always pull yourself out with a tornado. You're covered in mud, by the way."

Possum just stood there, tired, wet, muddy, her head aching from when she had accidentally headbutted the tree's trunk, as her irritation at the woman standing on the other side of the quicksand grew. "What-"

"Come on, training's over for the day," Yuuna said pleasantly as she drew the long bowie knife from under her poncho and began cutting down branches and small trees to make a bridge over the quicksand.

Possum was simply too tired to argue or refuse the crazy woman's help, and sat down to rest. She felt something wet dripping down the side of her face and reached up to wipe it off, and was somehow not very surprised to see it was blood. She was covered in scrapes and scratches and bruises, felt like a pincushion from all the sticker bushes she had been forced to wade through, the mud all over her stung like crazy in her wounds, and judging by how hard she had hit that tree it was no surprise to find the impact had broken the skin on the top of her head. She was lucky she didn't have a concussion or a broken skull! She wiped what blood and mud she could from her face, heaved a sigh, and tried to ignore Yuuna singing something peppy in what sounded oddly like German as she began weaving the small trees she had cut down together to make a bridge.

"Hey, I've got an idea!"

Possum groaned; she couldn't help it. She had only been training under the woman for what, in resort time, amounted to seven days, but from the first day she had grown to dread hearing that phrase. She looked up and felt a growing sense of alarm as she watched Yuuna fish out her wand, the one with the star on the end of it.

"Don't worry about a thing, Possum-kun! This'll get you clean in no time at all~!" Yuuna said as she closed her eyes, concentrated, and then pinned Possum in place with her stare as magic power began swirling. "Just stay...right...there!"

Possum backed away half a step, ready to flee if it seemed necessary. It looked like this would be big...

Yuuna adopted a suitably imposing stance, thrust her chest out (Why does she always have to _do_ that? Possum wondered in jealous irritation as she resigned herself to her fate), and began the spell. "To the Twenty-Nine Gathering Spirits of Water! Magic Arrows! Splash the Girl!"

"You idiot, that's an attack spe-waarblearbleargh!"

* * *

"So," Eva said, looking the three students as they stood in front of the secret magic shop she used for supplies. Good old Fulcanelli's Materials…the best place to go for all your rare materials needs. The building was extremely plain looking, far less ostentatious than even the most pedestrian cafe, the outer facade was dirty, undecorated, and utterly uninteresting; the only hint that the building was anything more than a rather pitiful junk shop was the name itself. Anyone who knew much about alchemy would have recognized the name hand painted in fading gold and silver paint on the shop's dirty windows. The multiple wards set up around the shop prevented any normals from entering unless accompanied by a mage, and even went as far as to make the shop seem even more uninteresting than it appeared even to those who could see it clearly. In short, old man Fulcanelli had done a great job of hiding the place in plain sight, and thus far few normals had ever even found the place, much less tried to come inside. But in any case old Fulcanelli was rarely there, however; the man was easily a hundred and fifty, though he didn't look a day over sixty-five. He also tended to take his time about things in his old age. The last she had heard, he had gone on an extended business trip to Mundus Magicus to try to acquire some rare substance he could use in his alchemical experiments. That had been two years ago, and while he was obviously still alive since the shop still received regular shipments of supplies, no one had spoken or heard from him since shortly after he had left. "You understand the sorts of things you'll need?"

Sachiko nodded, quickly followed by Kagami and Taro.

"Okay. Feel free to look around inside, but don't waste too much time; I want to get back before dark. Come on," she said as she pushed the door open and stepped inside, the three younger girls following her in. The interior of the shop was larger than it appeared and quite different from what they might have expected upon seeing the outside; it looked more like a general store from the old west than anything else. Large wooden racks and shelves packed with mysterious bottles, boxes, and other items lined the walls, while several freestanding wooden shelves packed with the bizarre items that made up the essential toolkit of any mage ran the length of the floor. Most of the things there were obviously the mass-produced bits and pieces needed by any mage, but some items stood out as unique; from the huge horseshoe above the door to the rack of swords behind the counter to the spear propped up in the corner to the dusty items in the display cases that served as the front counter, many items gave off massive magical auras, some powerful enough to take one's breath away if one came to this place unprepared.

After a moment of staring, the three girls fanned out inside to search among the shelves for whatever they might need. Eva watched them for a moment until she was sure they wouldn't do anything stupid, then went to the the front counter and hopped up to sit on the barrel located beside the counter where Chizuru, who worked at the shop as a troubleshooter and salesperson when she wasn't off on some mission for the local magic association, stood, idly leafing through an ancient grimoire. Eva wanted someone else's opinion on the girls, and the girl standing there just happened to be one of the few whose opinion she respected, and who also wouldn't let it go to their head that she had even asked in the first place. Also, she wanted to hear the latest news from the magic world, and Chizuru, being quite the valuable member of the local magic association, would know more than anyone else she cared to see today.

"What do you think, Naba?" Eva asked. The woman had gotten a job here after graduation, and they talked sometimes when there wasn't much else to do. Naba Chizuru tended to be quiet, but she was also quite the dark mage, and Eva enjoyed picking her brain. "About them," she said, flicking her head in the general direction of the three students.

Chizuru looked up at the girls thoughtfully. "I've only seen them in training once, but they were all strong." That they had no doubt gotten even stronger under Eva's training didn't need to be said.

"I guess."

Chizuru went back to the thick book while Eva occupied herself by picking up the latest issue of 'Magic World Today', which was almost a week old. 'You'd think that since they've started to rediscover the ability to make a flying island, they would at least be able to find a way to get magazines to the old world in less than a week,' she thought, rolling her eyes. She flipped the magazine open and began scanning the pages.

"Looks like Godel's not doing so well," she said after a moment, referring to one of the leading politicians of the magic world. The man had evidently battled with sickness his whole life, and it was finally catching up with him. The article went into great detail about his efforts to unite the nations of the magic world under a single governing body, and the problems he had run into in pursuit of his goal. It didn't mention a word about the accusations that he was favoring the human mage population, or the rumors that he was going for world domination rather than world unification. Strangely enough, it also mentioned that he had adopted a daughter some time back; a quiet and stubborn young girl named Mirabelle who had turned twelve the month before the issue Eva was reading went to press. At first glance, the girl looked like nothing special; however, something about her eyes caught Eva's attention. She couldn't quite tell from the small, somewhat out-of-focus picture in the magazine, but something about the girl was definitely strange. And furthermore, why hadn't she heard anything of this until now? Had it been a state secret before Godel's sudden announcement? Maybe the girl was actually something important, the holder of some dangerous power, the ace in the hole Godel had finally decided to show in order to hold off the opposition? That had to be it; the magazine said the girl had been adopted some time ago, which should have been huge news since Godel was famous and so important to the government. She set it aside as something to look into later and continued skimming the article.

"If he dies, that will leave Ocali Kaunt in a position to take advantage of the power vacuum," Chizuru said absently as she turned a page in her grimoire and paused. It had an elaborate picture of the so-called 'Great Demon Lord', a figure of folklore who had supposedly led the demons in a war of extermination against the humans thousands and thousands of years ago, resulting in the demons beings split into the three demonic races: the new demons, the youkai, and the oni. Rumor had it that the Great Vampire Lords had named themselves after that formidable entity in order to increase their sense of mystique, and knowing them like she did, Eva wouldn't put it past them. The picture was…quite detailed in its presentation of his rampage. Chizuru was unmoved.

Eva grimaced at the mention of Ocali Kaunt. She had heard the name before; most of those who lived in the shadows had, at one point or another. An enigmatic man, he had suddenly appeared and worked himself into a position of power some twenty odd years ago, showing up from nowhere immediately after the war. He had firmly wedged himself into the public perception as an intelligent and strong, if strict, leader, and had gained quite a following. There were rumors of collaborations with the demons and other unsavory characters, but it was only rarely that someone came forward to spill these rumors to the press. Whoever tried was almost instantly dismissed as a crackpot with a grudge against the man, and Ocali's people were quite good at ruining someone's reputation…not that anyone actually had any proof beyond rumor anyway. The simple fact was, no one knew anything about him other than the fact that he seemed a genuinely kind, wise, and all around likable person who had gained his position through twenty years of hard, honest work when one spoke to him face to face. Naturally, Eva distrusted anyone who gave that sort of impression, _especially_ anyone like that who appeared out of nowhere immediately after a war famous for its horrific atrocities.

But as far as the general public was concerned, Ocali was a fine man and would make a very good successor to Godel's dream of world unification when Godel finally succumbed to his illness. And of course there were many who simply didn't want to wait for Godel to die for Ocali to take over; judging by the article, Godel's security forces averaged a little over two assassination attempts per week. Two distinct extremist groups were gunning for him, the Children of Gilgamesh and the Gray Knights; both groups claimed to be the saviors of reality, and as far as Eva was concerned, both were filled with lunatics. If _she_ were the one running things over there, she'd have both groups wiped out in six months, nine at the outside, a hundred thousands members apiece or not.

Eva turned to the next page and skimmed over an ad for the latest personal airship. It appeared the new Airdarter would be the replacement for the aging Guppy design. She could still recall when the Guppy had first come out; it had been decried as far too radical a change from the previous style of airship, which had practically amounted to putting magi-hover-engines on regular boats. Of course the design had caught on when everyone realized it was faster, more durable, and, perhaps most importantly, _wasn't a freaking rowboat with a hover engine bolted on. _She flipped to the next page and frowned. It was the start of a ten page tribute to that idiot Nagi, complete with a timeline of his activities and theories about his disappearance, but nothing anyone in Mundus Magicus didn't already know. She tossed the magazine back on the counter and glanced around the store for lack of anything better to do. She eyed the rack of staffs in the back of the store for a moment before an idea crossed her mind. "Hey, Mochizuki Kagami, come here a minute," she ordered as she hopped off the barrel.

Kagami rushed over to Eva. "Yes, Eva-san?" She had learned quite a while ago that it was not a good idea to keep Eva waiting.

"Hmm...judging by what I've seen, you should use a staff. That'd probably be a better fit for your type of magic than that wand you've been using," Eva said.

"A staff…?" Kagami asked, scrunching her face in thought. True, it had seemed like the wand she had been using hadn't really been capable of properly handling the amount of power she could put through it. To tell the truth, she had been afraid several times that it had been about to explode. The practice wand Misa had given her at the start of her training was already cracked in several places, though the one Negi had given her was holding up much better. "Is there anything I need to know before I pick one out?"

Eva straightened up and put on the expression she normally did when lecturing newbies. That is to say, a glare combined with an expression of pure boredom to hide the burst of pride she felt. Before the start of Kagami's training with her, the girl would never have thought to ask such a question; she would have simply run to the back of the store and picked the prettiest staff on display. Now...Eva had to fight for a moment to hold back a smirk. Could she teach 'em, or could she teach 'em? "Pick one that feels right to you as a mage. It should be no more than twelve inches longer than you are tall, though something like six or eight inches is usually easier to deal with, and some like their staff no longer than they are tall. Also, you should be able to wrap your hand around the thickest part of the staff with ease. The best mages always make their own staff of course, but you can just pick one of those they have here. Watch the weight. Don't get one that is too heavy or too light, but be sure to pick one that feels solid. A broken staff is useless, and dangerous in more ways than one. Don't get anything too fancy either; I'm not paying for gold or silver plated scrap wood, here."

Kagami nodded hesitantly and followed her to the back wall of the store, where the staffs and wands were located.

"Hey Eva-san," Taro interrupted as she trotted up. "How about me, can I get one too?"

"No," Eva said irritably. "You don't need one, you'd just hit someone with it and break it. Go look at the potions or something." She watched, secretly amused, while Taro walked away grumbling. That was something Taro should have known for herself, Eva thought. While Taro could manage to get off a few magic arrows now and then, she would never be a mage on Kagami's level. Her forte was close combat, the most that girl would ever need would be a wand or a ring like the one Eva had given Negi.

Chizuru made a small laugh from the front of the store, and Eva bristled. She had an annoying sense that the woman had seen right through her. "What, do you have something to say about my pupils?"

"No, Evangeline-san," Chizuru said, still smiling as she returned to her book.

Eva grumbled something about irritating nosy clerks and headed back to the barrel she had been sitting on before. Maybe that article on Nagi had something she, no, something _the boy_ could use...

* * *

The Great Vampire Lord Jonus Hart stood in his pleasantly furnished hotel room, looking through the window out over the city as the sun set. Mundus Vetus sure had changed since the last time he had seen it. It had been what, two hundred years now? And it was a whole hell of a lot different from Mundus Magicus. The population was a lot denser all over the place here, for one thing; and the almost complete lack of personal flight devices was quite annoying. One could not simply fly about on a broom without extensive enchantments to bar mundanes from seeing or hearing oneself.

The general disbelief in magic _did_ have its uses, however. It made it much easier to move about undetected if no one expected you to hide yourself via magic. Also, strange occurrences could be brushed off as coincidence or too much sake, if they didn't occur too often. And if one were persuasive enough, anyway. He glanced at the strange woman laid out on his bed and grinned slightly. She had had quite a bit of power, and would make a fine slave for any vampire. Too bad he wouldn't be here for long. Maybe he could take her back with him to Mundus Magicus; he had been too long without a good servant, and she seemed to be quite capable in several important areas.

"Lucy, was it? Lucy Cade?" he asked.

Lucy nodded sluggishly, the only movement she had enough energy to make, as she watched him with a dreadful fascination made all the worse by some completely illogical foreign thought that raced through her mind at every turn, chanting the man's name and bringing with it the desire to do whatever he wanted her to do for some reason she couldn't quite recall.

The last thing she could remember before awakening here was getting off the train at the station in Mahora and getting something to eat at a fast food place, with the idea of finding a place to sleep for the night and looking up her little sister the next day. After that, her memories went hazy until the point where she awoke in this room, on this bed, naked, with nothing but a haphazardly tossed blanket to preserve her modesty. She didn't _think_ he had...done anything...to her, something about him didn't make him seem the type, even though he had already kidnapped her and left her like this.

Jonus approached and cupped her chin, turning her head to reveal the two small puncture wounds on the side of her neck. She wanted to scream, wanted to punch his face in, wanted to curse him and ask the spirits to tear him to shreds; instead, she moaned.

Jonus smiled at that. "Yes, you would make a wonderful servant. And the wound in your neck is already healing…a chi master, perhaps? Or maybe something a little less…legal?" he said. He shuffled through the jumbled memories he had received from her blood a moment ago and smiled; his hunch had been correct. "Ah, I see. Voodoo. Or hoodoo, rather. I never quite understood the difference between the two, you see, but nevertheless this is most useful."

The woman on the bed squirmed a bit and seemed to be trying to reach for something.

He sorted through the memories again. It was such a hassle, and something he normally didn't bother with this sort of thing, but this Lucy woman was most certainly not the average prey. The power in her blood had made it so _delicious_, like nothing he had ever tasted before. It was extremely intoxicating, the best he could remember having.

"Oh," he said, delighted. "A sister. And she appears to be even more powerful than you…Perhaps I can make a pair?"

Lucy groaned and squirmed more fiercely.

"Settle down," he said, placing his hand on her forehead. Lucy immediately went limp, her eyes shut and her breathing changed to the slow and steady pace of someone who was sleeping. "It's getting dark, Lucy," he said. "I'll be back in a few hours, hopefully with your sister."

* * *

Possum Cade sneezed explosively, startling her roommate, Kara Stride.

"Be careful; I thought I saw a piece of brain fly out," Kara deadpanned while Possum descended into a sneezing fit.

Possum laughed at her roommate's comment even as her sneezing fit continued. "They say here in Japan that that means someone's talkin about ya," she said conversationally after a moment when it had finally ended. She picked up her boots.

"Is that so," Kara asked in a bored tone as she lay sprawled in her bunk, staring at the bottom of Possum's bunk above her. "Don't get into too much trouble out there, the air feels dangerous tonight."

Possum nodded; she felt it too, and it was exhilarating. She checked to make sure her conjure bag was still in place and left the room. That training she had done with Yuuna...it had really been something else. Only seven days of training, and already she had begun to find herself thinking about things in a different way than she had before, thinking _around_ things. Possum exited the stairwell and nodded to the girls gathered in the front lobby of the dorm, and some of them nodded back or waved. A few spoke as she passed by, and she replied in kind. She pushed the door open and stepped outside into the warm night air, and couldn't help but grin. Whatever else she might think about Yuuna, that crazy woman certainly did have a creative streak a mile wide and, more importantly, the ability to apply it to the world around her in ways no one else could possibly have considered for more than a brief moment before dismissing it as flat out _insane_. Of course, Yuuna just claimed it was something simple like 'thinking outside the box' or whatever. The woman was crazy! Possum let out a laugh and started walking.

* * *

Eva gave the trio of Mochizuki Kagami, Nakamura Sachiko, and Urashima Taro one last pep talk, then set them loose to hunt down the Great Vampire Lord Jonus Hart, though she still hadn't told them about his true status. She made her way to the cabin and entered to find a select group waiting inside.

"Are you sure this is okay, master?" Negi asked worriedly, twisting a handkerchief in his hands as he watched the monitors Kazumi had set up to keep track of everything.

"Eh…Jonus won't kill them, even if they fail. He'll just make them into slaves if he catches them. They'll be fine," Eva said dismissively as she brushed off the teacher's worries. "If they _do_ face him and fail, though, I will be _very_ angry with them. Asakura, do you have one of your cameras on that hotel I told you about?"

"No problem, Eva-chan. He came out a minute ago, I'm following him at five hundred yards," Kazumi said as she typed on a wireless keyboard, pausing occasionally to move a mouse around and click things on a computer screen. Eva had a feeling she was just showing off by this point; the spy system had been ready almost an hour ago. She thought it might also be a good idea to have Nodoka and Yue on standby with her mental network ready, but it was probably unnecessary; she felt that she could actually trust these kids with this, strangely enough. Jonus Hart was by far the weakest member of the Council of Great Vampire Lords; anyone with a good deal of power and a little common sense could not only fend him off, but give him a good beating as well, from what she remembered. And even better, he was very predictable and possessed a deep sense of honor she had never heard him break. The only reason he was still alive after all this time was probably because he was just so damn _inoffensive_. You couldn't hate a guy, Eva thought, who smiled at puppies and kittens and gave toys and candy to poor children. Well, _she_ could, but Jonus's acts of kindness were genuine; rumor had it he would give you the shirt off his back if he thought you needed it enough. She knew there had to be _something_ in his past that he was hiding, some shameful thing he had done; she had never met a vampire who didn't have _something_ to be ashamed of, usually from their early years...but whatever it was, he seemed to have been trying to put it behind him for the past eight hundred years or so at least. What had her puzzled, however, was why Jonus had even come here at all. He was a wanderer, not a fighter. But to arrive so soon after that fool Zeph Castor's invitation...that was it. That was it! Jonus wasn't here to fight, he was here to spy! Perhaps to arrange things so Zeph Castor himself could arrive in secrecy...no, probably not that. Zeph had many enemies and he was a fool besides, but he wasn't _that_ much of a fool. But Jonus' presence in the city, without a doubt, was due to his friend Zeph's orders.

"Good. So now all we have to do is wait," Eva said as she sat back in a comfortable chair and accepted the glass of wine offered by Chachamaru. The others settled down and watched the monitors in silence, something she was immensely grateful for. Getting this bunch to keep quiet was like trying to get a kindergartener to return a piece of candy.

* * *

While Taro, Sachiko, and Kagami wandered awkwardly around the city, trying to keep out of sight, Possum Cade strolled along the sidewalk, nodding to passersby and grinning at children. She had always liked being around people, even if her odd interests often led to strange looks and awkward, halting conversations.

She popped into a convenience store and came back out with a box of pocky, which she promptly opened.

Now, with nothing on her mind, a stick of pocky in her mouth, and plenty of time, she set out in a random direction and just walked.

* * *

Jonus Hart waited on top of an apartment building while his shadowy servants did the legwork, slipping from shadow to shadow and looking for whatever they might find. He was still running on the high provided by that Lucy girl's blood, and he felt magnificent, powerful, as if he could do anything. It brought back old urges he had been repressing for centuries. The girl's personal magic had saturated her blood to an amazing extent, and he felt as if he was a hundred and twenty again.

Honestly, he was relieved to be away from the weekly meetings with the others in the council; it was liberating. No longer confined to the rules of the Gathering, he was free. He paused for a moment, looking off into the distance. He had once been called The Ripper in certain places, Kingsbane in another. Perhaps it was time to remind the world of just who he was...? He grinned viciously at the thought and extended his consciousness out into the night through his servants in search of his next victim. _Man_ this felt good...! He would have to take some more of Lucy's blood as soon as she was well enough; if he couldn't find her sister tonight, that was. Speaking of which...

Searching…searching…there! His grin widened further as he leaped to the next rooftop, and the next, and the next, and the next.

He had found her.

* * *

Possum took the last piece of pocky from the box and stuck it in her mouth as she walked. She tucked the box into her back pocket and bit the stick of pocky in half. A couple of guys dressed like punks and a year or two older said something suggestive about American girls with things in their mouths, but she fielded it like a pro and kept going, leaving the two of them flabbergasted. 'Idiots thought they were hard,' she thought to herself, amused. 'They wouldn't know hard if it broke their jaw.'

She was so relaxed she didn't even realize she was being followed until she took a turn and found an empty street before her. She didn't see him until she turned around to go back the way she had come.

The man was tall and rather bland looking. Dressed a little too finely for an evening stroll, he looked European, most likely, or maybe an American like her. He appeared to be in his early thirties, maybe his late twenties.

"Something wrong?" she asked, pleasantly enough.

The man had an odd grin that was, truth to tell, a bit unsettling. "Not really. Just my lack of you," he said.

Possum just gaped at the man, accidentally dropping the remains of the last pocky stick from her mouth. '"My lack of you"? Wow…' She hadn't heard anything _that_ cheesy in quite a while. "Sorry, you're not my type," she said, grinning and waving her hand.

Jonus lunged for her.

* * *

"Where are they? Hurry! Tell me!" Negi demanded as he jumped out of his chair, not even noticing when it fell over backward.

Kazumi fumbled with the mouse for a moment before she answered. "Two roads down from the coffee shop you used to visit with Max-sensei!"

Negi left without another word and was on his staff almost as soon as he was out the door.

* * *

Possum danced back out of the man's reach and snatched up a two by four from the gutter, holding it before her with both hands, almost like a sword. Her lips thinned and her brows lowered in consternation as she looked at the man, but she remained silent.

Jonus' grin finally slipped as well as he examined the girl facing him, and the oddly flickering aura that enveloped her. He couldn't see it when looking at her straight on; it was only visible when seen from the edges of sight. Lucy had had one as well, but hers hadn't been anywhere near as substantial as this girl's. He couldn't help but lick his lips at the thought of tasting her blood. If this girl was so much more powerful than Lucy...he had to have her.

"I see my decision was correct…there is more to you than meets the eye," he said. Truly; she simply appeared to be a normal Caucasian girl. Perhaps a little on the thin side, but with the sort of stringy muscles that suggested she could outwalk a horse.

Possum ignored his words even as he lunged again. She expertly threaded the board through his outstretched hands and drove it hard into his stomach as he got close, a hit that should have driven him to the ground, gasping for breath. As it was, there was little effect and she was forced to drop her weapon in surprise to avoid getting caught as she whipped around him to the other side, now muttering something that sounded like a magic charm.

"I see," he said to himself. He had been wrong. That hadn't been an amateurish attempt at swordplay, but rather a fine example of staff-fighting of such a level that it would have been an instant fight-ender had she been facing a normal human; he hadn't come across someone that good in what, three hundred years? It was a dieing art. He had been so wrapped up in anticipation of drinking her blood that he hadn't been thinking clearly and had jumped to conclusions, and that could be quite dangerous at a time like this. He smiled in a friendly manner as he watched her. Now, as for whatever it was she was chanting…

"What is that?" Jonus asked pleasantly enough.

Possum didn't answer, just kept circling.

"What are you saying?" he asked again. He lunged again but couldn't get a grip on her. Even though he was _sure_ he had grabbed her arm that time, she seemed to slip away as if she were covered in oil. "What _are_ you, girl?" he growled as frustration started to build. He _had_ to have that blood, he could _smell_ it...!

Possum just kept mumbling under her breath.

"That's okay, that's fine; we'll just have to do this the hard way," Jonus said as four shadowy doglike beasts appeared around him.

Possum shook her head, her eyes far away. "A beast can never harm me," she muttered, clutching something in her pocket. She only flinched slightly as the four creatures leaped as one and bounced off an invisible barrier roughly six inches in front of her. Her face looked pinched and strained, but she looked at Jonus, looked _through_ Jonus, plainly as the beasts limped back to him, whimpering.

Jonus circled for a moment, trying to find a way to get at her, but she just kept looking through him in that strange way. He didn't like it at all. It felt as if she was looking at his soul rather than his body; it was quite creepy.

"Possum-saaaaaan!" Negi called out as he flew into the side road on his staff. "Get away from my student!"

Possum's eyes darted toward Negi's face before she even realized she had turned her attention from the crazy man and his dogs, quickly turned back, and her tongue stumbled over her words. The flimsy wards against magical creatures and physical attack collapsed, and in the length of time it took for Negi to slow down and dismount his staff, Jonus had darted forward, snagged Possum's left arm, and twisted it up around behind her back in a hammerlock with one arm and snaked the other around her waist, pinning her right arm to her side.

"You have my thanks, young man. I doubt it would have been so easy to capture her without your help," Jonus said as Possum struggled to escape his grip.

"Let go of me, you-" Possum started to say.

Negi didn't even have a chance to respond before the two of them simply…disappeared.

"Possum…san…"

* * *

_**Author's Notes**: Negi has received a new title: Failure Savior_

_…and that's terrible._

* * *

Lucy Cade - Wandering Root Worker

Born - 5/8/1987

Height - 5'6"

Likes: Cooking, fried food, amphibians

Dislikes: Being tied to one place

Little Known Facts: If she didn't have her little sister Possum to look after, she would have wandered off a long time ago to live off the land and travel around as she pleased.


	27. Ch 25 Intruder pt 4

**_Author's note: _**_Language warning  
_

* * *

**Still Waters 3, Chapter 25, Intruder Part 4**

* * *

Wednesday, June 17th, 2009

* * *

Negi slogged through the crowded school hallway, hardly noticing the students as they greeted him and moved past on their way to class. He would return their greetings when he could, of course, but only one student was on his mind _this_ morning.

Possum Cade.

Kidnapped by the vampire Jonus Hart right before his eyes, and he had been powerless to do a _single thing_ to stop him. In fact, the vampire had even had the gall to _thank_ him! That had hurt, yes, but what had hurt worse than that, worse than the fact that he had failed the girl, worse than the idea that not only had he failed her, but he had actually contributed to her kidnapping, what hurt worse than all of that was the surprised, slightly accusing, furious, and, above all, _terrified_ look in poor Possum's eyes as the vampire grabbed her and disappeared. And it was all his fault.

"Boy."

He continued walking, so wrapped up in his own self-loathing that Eva's voice didn't even register at first.

Eva stepped in front of him and gave him a light (very, very light for her) push.

Negi staggered back a few steps, startled back to reality, and finally noticed Eva standing before him. "Eva-san, you must get back to the classroom-"

"Drop the pretense, boy."

Negi started to say something, noticed the disappointment and barely contained rage hidden in Eva's carefully crafted expression of boredom, and shut his mouth. His throat suddenly felt very, very dry.

"Nice work, boy. By now Jonus has another servant."

Negi's jaw worked, but no sound came out.

"Shut up, I don't want to hear excuses. You screwed up, and I _will_ make sure you settle up when this is all over. Until then, snap out of it," Eva said, putting her hands on her hips as she stared him down. "This funk you're in doesn't suit you, and you can't do any good moping around."

She turned and walked away, and Negi was left standing in the hall, watching her go as his mind reeled, trying to figure out what had just happened. Wrapped up somewhere amid all the ominous threats and the glare, had Eva actually attempted to...encourage him? At that moment, however, Possum's expression drifted back into his mind and he staggered against the wall, holding a hand to his head as a splitting headache came on with the force of a tidal wave. He continued on and soon found himself entering the classroom. The class, perhaps sensing his mood, was unusually docile as he began homeroom.

* * *

Negi ran into Nakamura Sachiko on the stairs at lunchtime. "I'm sorry, sensei. If I had been able to guide Urashima-san and Mochizuki-san properly…"

"It's not your fault, Iincho-san," Negi said distractedly, not even looking at her as the words _My Fault My Fault My Fault_ ran through his head all the while. "How is Taro-san?"

Sachiko's face tightened almost imperceptibly. Naturally, Negi, in his current condition, missed it completely. "Not well." Possum Cade was Urashima Taro's best friend, after all. There was no way she would handle something like this well.

Negi distractedly excused himself and left the class rep standing on the stairs, watching, as he headed for the doors.

_My Fault My Fault My Fault_

* * *

"Hey, Iincho…" Kagami said when she caught up to Sachiko at the shoe lockers after school. "I think I want to go out again tonight. Are you coming?"

Sachiko looked outside, thinking. 'Am I really worthy of leading them? Poor Possum-san…' She knew that there had been nothing the three of them could have done from halfway across the city, but up until Yuuna-san came and took her away, Possum-san had been one of them. They had trained together, fought together, laughed together...the four of them had gotten along pretty well, but now...

"Iincho?" Kagami asked.

Sachiko turned toward her and nodded. "Of course. I have to make up for my failure; I can't let him get any more of us. Is Urashima-san…?"

"She'll be coming too," Kagami said.

"I see." Sachiko picked up her school shoes and put them in the locker. "Let's go, I want some time to prepare."

* * *

The first thing she became aware of was the shadows falling across the ceiling above her. She groaned as the stiffness in her neck made itself known.

She felt weak, so incredibly weak... And cold. She was so disoriented that she could hardly even remember her name, much less what had happened to put her in this situation.

"Ah, you are finally awake. I must confess, you have given me a much harder time than I would have expected. But this," the speaker said, holding up a small red flannel bag, "is most likely the culprit."

Possum's mind shot back to reality and she made a panicked sound as she tried to reach down to see if the bag was still tied on the inside of her skirt, and was horrified to find herself lying on a bed, naked, in what appeared to be a hotel room. Not only had he killed the magic by messing with the conjure bag her great grandmother had made specially for her, he had stripped her too, _in her sleep_, and…

"Oh don't worry," he said, looking mildly disgusted as he realized what she was thinking, having apparently been through this situation many times in the past. "I didn't do anything…untoward. Things are just so much easier this way, when the subject bares their soul to me. It really was for the best, believe me. In any case, there is someone here whom I believe you know," Jonus said jovially, his eyes dancing in the dim light that filtered in through the thick curtains as he looked at her. "Come in, Lucy."

Possum watched weakly as a door opened and her sister stepped in, her light blonde hair set off by the black lacy number straight out of some otaku's fantasy, carrying a tray with a fancy silver tea set.

"Yes, put that down and come here, dear Lucy," Jonus said, extending his arms. Lucy obediently placed the tray on a nearby table and went to stand beside him, leaning against his side when he wrapped an arm around her. Her eyes were stupid and empty. "Come, Possum. Join us?"

And the terrible thing was, some deep, dark part of her actually wanted to get up and go to him alongside her older sister. She actually started to sit up before she stopped herself and pulled the sheet up to hide her nakedness.

Jonus shook his head. "I suppose it was too much to hope for so soon. No matter," he said dramatically, smirking as if at some secret joke. "You will join your sister before too long. Now, I believe several more young ladies will be looking for me tonight; I must prepare. And you, you are just the one I need," he said as he strolled across the room toward her.

Possum tried to struggle away from him, but whatever he had done to her had made her too weak to do much of anything. He gripped her chin painfully and turned her head to the side, leaving the side of her neck wide open to attack. Her eyes widened in realization of what he was and she tried to hit him with her fists as he knelt down but the blows didn't seem to have any effect on the man, and then she felt the prick of his fangs in her neck and the rest of her energy drained away, sucked out through the twin holes in her skin, and she fell unconscious.

* * *

Sakai Reiko heaved a weary sigh as she plopped down on one of the benches that dotted the city of Mahora. "This is ridiculous," she said aloud as she flopped down on her back on the bench and looked up at the clouds, trying to catch her breath. The clouds were no longer white, not to her eyes. Ever since the ghoul attack, her vision had acquired a distinctly gray shade; everything seemed faded, and she found herself missing the color white. Her formerly sharp vision seemed to be going downhill as well. If things kept going like this, she'd probably lose her other colors as well, and end up wearing glasses at the very least by the time Halloween rolled around, maybe even earlier, she thought.

"Reiko-san…? Should I get someone?" Sayo asked as she hovered around the exhausted girl on the bench.

"Nah, I'm fine. I just need to lay here a minute," Reiko said as she waved off the ghost, much to the consternation of passersby.

"Reiko-san…"

"So, what did I miss?" Reiko asked. She hadn't been allowed to leave the watchful eyes of her captor-nurses since the incident with the ghoul; this was the first time she had managed to get away. Luckily she had run into Sayo out in the city; the ghost girl was obviously hiding something though, and Reiko was curious.

"Um, ah, you see…"

"Spit it out."

"A vampire kidnapped Possum-san! I'm sorry Reiko-san!"

Reiko closed her eyes and sighed again. "Possum-san…Possum-san…oh, that American girl, right? The kickboxer? And who is the vampire? Don't tell me Eva finally snapped?"

Sayo shook her head. "He calls himself 'The Great Vampire Lord Jonus Hart', I think. You aren't going after him, are you?" she asked even though she knew it was a stupid question.

Reiko snorted. "Of course." She knew of the so-called 'Great Vampire Lords', the smarter vampires tended to sit back and allow them to take all the blame whenever someone lost control. She rolled over off the edge of the bench, landing on her hands and knees on the ground. She took a moment to pull herself up and stood swaying as she leaned against a lamppost and waited for her head to stop spinning. "Well…maybe not just yet. Who's on it?"

"Um…I think Kagami-san and Taro-san and Nakamura-san. They-"

Reiko interrupted Sayo with a groan. "That'll be a disaster. Nakamura's the only one with a good head on her shoulders. The other two're strong, yeah, but they don't have the control to face a vampire." She started staggering along after a moment, weaving back and forth across the sidewalk and drawing concerned looks from passersby as she went. One man moved to help her, but she waved him off and kept going.

"Reiko-san, you should go back, you need to rest," Sayo said after a moment. If only she could convince her…!

"I'm fine. I just need to get home," Reiko replied as she trudged along.

They made it perhaps a hundred and fifty feet before Reiko had to stop and lean against a building to catch her breath again. "Maybe I need a cane or something…" she said tiredly. Sayo looked like she was about to say something, but Reiko interrupted her. "Quiet, you."

They were soon on their way again.

* * *

After a two-hour slog through the city streets, Reiko and Sayo finally arrived at Reiko's house. Reiko, unable to take another step, almost collapsed when she reached the door, and needed a moment to collect herself as she leaned against it.

Sayo wanted to help her somehow, but…

"Don't…worry about it," Reiko said in between gasps for breath. She fumbled around in her pocket for a moment before fishing out the little enchanted lego man she used as a key. She opened the door and leaned heavily on the frame for a moment, clutching at the wall as her legs began shaking crazily and the last remnants of her strength fled her body.

Sayo realized just how gray and exhausted Reiko looked and started to panic. "Reiko-san! Hold on, I'll go get someone, hang in there, Reiko-san…!"

"S-sayo," Reiko muttered as her knees finally gave out and she collapsed in the doorway.

"Reiko-san!"

Everything faded to black.

* * *

Reiko awoke some time later on the old couch she kept in the entryway. She seemed to be all right…well, all right except for a killer headache and a ridiculously queasy stomach. Oh, and the fact that she felt so weak she could barely raise her hand to swipe her hair out of her eyes.

_Sister okay?_

Reiko lay there for a moment, staring at the ceiling as she tried to identify the voice that had just spoken directly into her head.

"Bud?" She pulled herself up enough to look around and sure enough, the weird little devil she had captured some time back was standing there, looking at her with its single eye.

_Sister okay?_ it repeated in her mind.

Reiko pulled herself up enough to sit up straight and put a hand to her head, which, on second inspection, was starting to throb. "Well, ain't you a sight for sore eyes," she said sourly. "How did you get out?"

_Bottle broke. Sister okay?_

Reiko didn't answer the question; opting instead for another look around. How much time had passed? It looked like it was getting dark already... "Where's Sayo?"

_Sayo is ghost? Ghost gone._

Reiko didn't like the sound of that. "Hey Bud, what did you do?" she demanded, closing her eyes against the pain that swelled in her head immediately upon raising her voice. If Bud had dispersed Sayo…!

_Did nothing. Ghost gone. Get help._

Reiko frowned at that and carefully lowered herself back down on the couch, one leg propped over the armrest on the far side, the other hanging down over the edge.

"Hey Bud...can you get a glass of water for me?"

_Yes, sister._

Reiko thought she must have blacked out again because the next thing she knew, Bud was standing beside her, shaking her shoulder, his alien fingers gripping her arm gently. Her vision swam as she looked around again and took the glass of water he offered. She drank it while Bud watched, then lay back down and looked at a spot on the ceiling while Bud looked at her until both were startled by someone knocking on the door.

Reiko sat up, then abruptly lay down again, clutching her head. "You answer it," she said, hating the weakness she heard in her voice.

_Yes, sister_.

When the door was opened, Sayo rushed in. "Reiko-san? I…I found her. Um…Caro-san came too," Sayo said, edging around the creature that had opened the door. It gave her the creeps…

Reiko collected herself and called out from the couch. "Hey Zazie, leave your followers outside okay? This house isn't safe for 'em. Caro can come in, though."

Zazie nodded and looked at the black creatures that followed her everywhere, but which few could see. They backed out of the doorway and she closed the door.

* * *

Possum awoke an indeterminate amount of time later, now tied spread-eagle to the fancy bedposts of the bed she was still lying on. The curtains in the windows were closed, but no light showed from their edges; it must be night time. Her throat felt incredibly dry, but she was wide awake now; there was no sign of her earlier daze.

"Hello?" she croaked. What had happened? Where was Lucy? She didn't know, and it bothered her. Lucy wasn't like her, the girl needed someone to tell her when to back off and let someone else take charge.

"Lucy? Are you there?"

There was no answer.

"Hello? Anyone? Is there anybody there?"

* * *

Jonus Hart stood high atop a parking garage, looking over his minions, both new and old. This city simply _teemed_ with rough types; no one would notice a few less. He shivered with the sheer energy pulsing through him. That Possum girl…Ha, and he had thought _Lucy_ had delicious blood…! His body fairly crackled with power, and he felt as if he could do anything. "I am quite sure that I am drunk," he said aloud without meaning to. Her blood had just been so _delicious_... He turned to regard his minions again.

"My followers, the sun has set this day." This statement was greeted with ragged applause and a few howls. "Tonight, you are free to do as you wish. Rape, pillage, suck your victims dry, it doesn't matter tonight! It is almost the full moon, and our powers are near their height. Go, and do as you wish!" The group of mind controlled thugs, punks, and gang members before him let out another ragged cheer and headed for the stairwell.

"And while you do that, I will go after my target, free of interference," he said to himself as he jumped up on top of the safety wall and scanned the city. 'All the overacting and drama…it's fun. No wonder Zeph does it all the time,' Jonus thought, drunk with power and Possum and Lucy's blood.

"My beasts! All of you, to me!" Over a hundred shadowy creatures of all shapes and sizes instantly filled the rooftop at his call. "Spread out, search out the strongest among those who oppose me, and silence them. Now go!" The creatures disappeared into the shadows as each went its own way and a smile crept over Jonus' face.

"This will be just like old times," he said aloud. "Won't it, Lucy?"

Lucy simply looked at him with stupid adoration.

* * *

Endo Haru moped around near the café that had the parfaits she liked so much. Unfortunately, they were currently closed for renovations and had been for the past three days; the sign on the door said they wouldn't reopen until summer break. She had been in a funk for a while now, ever since her roommate Kagami had stopped coming home until late. The girl never said much of anything to her anymore, and Kagami was pretty much the only friend Haru had! She didn't know what to do anymore...

She wandered around for a little while and soon found herself entering a fast food restaurant. She took her order and sat down, looking blankly at the unappetizing hamburger and soggy fries and felt herself frown. She picked up her watery drink and took a long sip through the straw, then placed it back on the ring of condensation it had already created on the table. She sighed wearily and propped her elbows up on the edge of the table. This was getting ridiculous!

In the end, Haru only took two bites of the hamburger before she threw it all out and left the restaurant. It was getting late, so she decided to go back to the dorms. She strolled tiredly down the sidewalk, not really paying attention to much of anything, when someone let out a piercing scream and she heard the distinct sound of a dog growling. The growls picked up in intensity followed by more terrified screams, and Haru found herself running toward the source of the noise. She was greeted by a crowd of people fleeing from the scene and pushed through them, staggering as her shoulder was struck by a man built like a construction worker. She narrowly managed to get out of the way of a girl her own age, looking back the way she had come as she ran, and stumbled as she finally spotted what the other people were running from, a huge shadowy doglike beast and the girl it had cornered. Without a single thought for her own personal safety, Haru barreled straight into the side of the beast, tackling it hard enough to send it rolling with a startled yelp.

"Endo-san!"

Haru glanced at the dog's victim and saw none other than her shy genius classmate, Suzuki Keiko, who was now scrambling to her feet. "He's getting up!"

Sure enough, the shadowy beast was getting to its feet, and its eyes were fixed firmly on Endo Haru.

"Get away from here, Keiko-san," Haru said calmly, not taking her eyes from the creature.

"What about you?" Keiko asked worriedly, hardly daring to look away from the creature herself.

"Don't worry, there's no way this thing can outrun a member of the Bicycle Club," Haru said proudly. "Go on, you need a head start. Run to a church or something. Is there one near here?"

"Y-yes…"

"Good." Haru sighed in relief as she listened to Keiko's retreating footsteps. The street was temporarily deserted, but she knew that wouldn't last long. If she was going to do something, it would have to be done now.

She hunched over and shifted into something else while Suzuki Keiko watched in amazement from the mouth of an alley far down the street.

* * *

Nakamura Sachiko frowned as the polite woman she thought of as Miyazaki-san relayed instructions over the network she had set up between the participants in tonight's vampire hunt. Taro abruptly shifted from her crouch next to her when they heard a piercing screech echo across the city.

"What the hell was that?"

"Keep your voice down!" Kagami whispered loudly as she pulled the girl back down. She jumped and barely suppressed a scream herself as something let out a horrible howl and a chainsaw started up somewhere in the distance, accompanied by terrified screams. Seconds later, the chainsaw revved high and some beast's agonized roar rocked the night as the chainsaw wielder made contact with a target.

Sachiko tried to tune everything out as she absorbed the information being transmitted. Shadowy beasts in Mahora... Mind controlled people attacking the populous in general... The vampire they were hunting…nowhere in sight. It was obviously a diversion to refocus their attention elsewhere while he completed some secret task.

"How bad is the situation?" Sachiko asked, then blushed when she realized she had spoken aloud rather than mentally. She repeated the question even as the answer came.

_The situation is bad. First priority is to protect the civilians, second priority is to defeat the creatures and subdue the enslaved victims. Keep an eye out for primary target Jonus Hart, but don't let anyone get hurt if you can help it._

_Understood_, Sachiko sent, then stood up and stretched to get her blood flowing again. "Get ready, our orders have changed."

Taro and Kagami were already up, each preparing in her own way.

The sound of insane laughter drifted down the road toward them as a terrified man sprinted past the opening of the alley they were hiding in.

"Let's go," Sachiko said.

* * *

Madoka hurried along on her way to Misa's apartment, holding a guitar case in one hand as she went. She heard the roar of a chainsaw a few blocks away and cursed under her breath. It seemed that Maple Birdsong had decided to lend a hand to the defense of Mahora. That was _just_ what they needed; an unstable girl with a knack for gardening tools playing vigilante…

_Madoka-san?_

Madoka growled in frustration. That was Nodoka…they must have started the mission already; she had hoped they would at least hold off until she got to the apartment. She gritted her teeth and concentrated on the mental link. _This is Madoka._

_This is Nodoka. The situation has changed. The primary target has disappeared and his servants are causing trouble all over the city. Please subdue any of them you can find._

_Got it, Nodoka. I'm heading to Misa's apartment now, I'll keep an eye open. Want me to stay around that area?_ Madoka sent.

_That's fine. Good luck, Madoka-san,_ Nodoka sent, then the link faded into the background.

Madoka sped up into a run as she went, boosting her speed with ki, just the way Kotarou-kun had shown her years ago. She turned the last corner and stopped dead in her tracks.

There, standing in front of the building that housed Misa's apartment, was a blonde foreigner with an oddly familiar face and revealing black clothing with strategically placed slits baring skin here and there. She also appeared to be dragging an unconscious girl by the collar of her shirt.

Madoka went quiet and carefully placed the guitar case against a nearby building, then went out in the street to face the stranger. "Put the girl down," she ordered.

The blonde woman in the lacy black clothing released the girl, who flopped to the pavement lifelessly, and stood there looking at Madoka with a vacant expression. "She is just asleep."

"Who are you?" Madoka demanded.

"A servant of the Great Vampire Lord Jonus Hart, my name is Lucy Cade. Who are you?" she asked, her voice slurring slightly as if she was talking in her sleep, or drunk.

So that was it, then. She looked familiar because she was the older sister of one of Negi's students. Madoka hadn't spoken to the girl except in passing, and had only actually seen her maybe half a dozen times in the past few months, but the resemblance was there.

"I'm Kugimiya Madoka, and I'm going to kick your ass," she said as she moved to attack.

* * *

P.E. teacher Max Linell stood in front of the main entrance to the middle school dorm, a wall barring entrance for the mind controlled group of thugs standing on the lawn.

"No." It was a statement of pure truth, leaving no room for argument. He spoke to the girl who stood behind him, who stood twirling a couple of long knives in her hands. "Get inside the dorm, Rosario. If someone gets past me…"

Liliana Rosario, one of Negi's former students, gave the small crowd one last menacing glare. "Leave a couple for me, okay?"

Max grinned humorlessly. "No promises."

Liliana barked a laugh and retreated into the dorm.

"Hey I told you, let us in old man," one of the mind controlled punks taunted.

"Yeah, you know, I've killed a man before," another chimed in. "Killed him good. They never found 'im til he was a skeleton, heheh."

Max smirked. "Heh. Heheh." His gravelly laugh was...a little disturbing. "So it doesn't matter how I hit you then..." he said to himself.

"What's the matter man, you crazy?" the first one said.

"Gotta be, totally batshit insane to not run and hide! Hahaha!" another said.

One of the thugs near the front had a sudden streak of common sense, and his survival instincts switched back on strongly enough to temporarily override his master's orders. "Wait, what am I doing…? This is _Max Linell_…! This is the guy who fought that Setsuna chick to a standstill! Oh my God oh my God oh my God oh my-" He was silenced when Max's fist crushed his jawbone.

* * *

Nelle slowed to a stop and carefully placed the stack of books she had been carrying on a nearby fence post out of harm's way. She turned to face the things that had been stalking her and looked them over carefully. One of the creatures moved to the right, and another moved to the left, leaving three to face her from the front. So…they were intelligent. Some sort of summon, perhaps? Judging by their power levels and magical signatures, they were probably summoned by a powerful vampire, or perhaps a lich of some sort. She sighed. She supposed this was part of the fallout from the kidnapping of one of Negi's students, and wished she had offered to participate in the network Nodoka had been planning to set up, but...oh well. She would just have to take care of this herself.

No matter.

She reached both hands behind her and up under the back of her poncho and drew her twin machetes in a smooth, practiced motion; the sound of metal scraping against the leather sheathes was loud in the otherwise silent street.

The mute girl stood there, arms somewhat outstretched, eyes unfocused as she listened for the movement that would indicate the start of the fight. From the sounds around her, there were eight of them. Those in the back would likely strike first…three of them.

Claws scraped on asphalt and she whirled into motion, the blades seemingly taking on a life of their own as they flickered through the clear night air, each strike drawing black ichor, the creature's equivalent of blood.

No, Nelle wouldn't need the help of Ala Alba tonight; these enemies were beneath her.

* * *

"I don't like this," Eva said, crossing her arms as she looked at the chaos depicted on the monitors.

"You think you don't like it?" Yuuna snapped. "That's _my _apprentice that got kidnapped-"

"Shut up," Eva said. Yuuna stopped talking, but it was obvious she was upset that she hadn't been allowed to take part in the vampire hunt. From the way she was pacing with her arms crossing tightly over her chest, it was obvious she was _pissed_. She had taken Possum's kidnapping almost as hard as Negi, though her initial reaction hadn't been depression, but rather flat out unthinking _rage_. How _dare_ that bastard kidnap her apprentice? It had taken several bind spells from Yue and Nodoka to keep her from charging off to tear the city apart looking for him when she first heard the news, and even then she had almost broken through them. That bastard...she would see him pay for what he had done...!

Negi sat nearby, all but oblivious to the others as he watched the fighting taking place all over the city. The local mages, after a few minutes of chaos, had finally begun to show their training and had started working together to drive the fighting away from concentrations of civilians. Things were going worlds better than the debacle six years ago with the robots.

What do you mean, Eva-chan?" Kazumi asked after a moment as she worked to keep the spy drones pointed at the right places. Controlling twenty seven spy drones with any degree of accuracy would have been nearly impossible for most people; Kazumi made it look easy.

Eva's frown deepened as she watched the scene at the dorm, where that idiot Max Linell was beating up a bunch of delinquents. "I know Jonus, and this isn't his style." She looked at another monitor showing a short young woman with two long knives, or maybe machetes, chopping up a bunch of shadow creature summons as they tried to attack. She shifted to another screen where a crazy looking girl with stringy hair flying around was swinging a chainsaw with reckless abandon, tearing apart a gigantic shadow summon that looked like a bull piece by piece while others tried to circle around behind her. The people of Mahora could handle this situation, true...but with the vampire in question, this situation should never even have happened, much less gotten to this point. Something was definitely wrong.

Kazumi frowned as one of the monitors abruptly blacked out. "Something happened to eighteen," she said more to herself than any of the others in the room. Several other monitors blacked out one after another. "Let me check..." she concentrated for a moment, frowning. "Someone destroyed the drones. I'll have to summon replacements..."

"It's a diversion," Eva said as she continued scanning the monitors. She caught a glimpse of something on one of them. "There, on twelve, that was Jonus."

Negi's head snapped up, and Eva met his gaze. "Are you sure?"

Yuuna growled as she watched the screens. "That bas-"

"Without a doubt," Eva said, interupting Yuuna before she could get her rant started. "Aren't you going to go?"

Negi opened his mouth to speak, thought better of it, and shut it. He glanced at the monitors, at Kazumi, at Yue and Nodoka, who were working so hard to keep Nodoka's network up, at the other people in the room. They were all his friends...no, they were all his family. But...his traitorous mind hit him with an image of Possum's face as the vampire took her away. "I..."

"Well? Are you going or not?" Eva repeated. "What are you, a coward? I don't remember training any wimps," she said, staring him down. She crossed her arms and nodded toward the monitors. "They're all out there fighting, what about you?"

Negi gulped, glanced at the monitors again, all of which showed scenes of carnage. Even as he watched, Max took a terrible blow to the head from a metal pipe, staggered back shaking his head to clear it, and punched his attacker in the face hard enough to knock him down. Seeing that began to bring up his fighting instinct... 'But Possum...' his memory of the girl's face before she was kidnapped slammed back into his mind, mentally staggering him and killing his urge to go out and help his friends before it could become strong enough to influence him. "B...but-"

"Tch. Coward. Chicken. _Mouse_." Eva spat this last one with a vehemence that surprised even herself. She hadn't realized just how much Negi's stubborn faint-heartedness had affected her. She actually felt _disappointed_ with him, for the very first time. "You've gone through losing your parents, having your village turned to stone, getting sent halfway around the world to live in a place you've never even _seen_ before, and you're afraid of _this_?" she roared as she smacked one of the monitors with more force than intended, shattering it. Kazumi, sensing her mood, wisely declined to comment on the destruction of an expensive piece of equipment.

Negi jerked away from the exploding monitor and his chair went over, leaving him sprawled on his back, looking up at Eva as if he had never seen her before. "B-"

"But what?" Eva roared again, stalking across the floor toward him, power swirling off of her in waves.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Kazumi demanded as the video for the monitors collapsed into a scrambled mess due to the interference from the overwhelming power of Eva's magic.

Eva ignored her, instead opting to loom over Negi. "Forget the girl, this isn't about her! This is about you, and that streak of chicken-shit you've got in you! What happened to finding your father? Fighting Fate? That ain't gonna happen if you're like this! If this is how you really are, I'll kill you myself!"

Negi gritted his teeth and shot up to his feet. "Shut up!"

The others watched, wide eyed. Even Yuuna tore herself away from her thoughts at that.

"Did you just tell me to shut up?" Eva asked in a scarily calm tone as her eyes started to glow.

"Of course I'm worried about Possum!" Negi bellowed six inches away from Eva's face. "How can I not be? I'm the one that got her captured! If I go out there again, I'll probably just get somebody killed!"

"...I think I'm going to kill you," Eva said, grinning without an ounce of good nature.

"Will the both of you please SHUT THE HELL UP!"

The sheer intensity in Yue's voice cut through the building tension in the room, shocking everyone else even more than the fact she had just sworn at Eva in full on pissed off vampire mode.

Negi felt something dark let go of his mind and almost staggered from the shock as the most intense despair and self-hatred he had ever experienced in his whole life vanished in an instant. It was as if someone had removed a tremendous weight he hadn't even realized he was carrying. He felt...light. He caught Eva giving him an odd look and wondered if she somehow understood what had just happened to him.

Eva turned her attention from Negi, momentarily putting aside her puzzlement about the abrupt change she had just seen in his eyes. She looked Yue in the eye and stalked toward her as the others stepped aside. She stopped there in front of her, giving her a venomous look. "This had better be good," she said.

Yue met Eva's hostile gaze and returned it, refusing to flinch away. After what she had gone through on the dig in Tibet, there wasn't much Eva could do to scare her, not anymore. "It's about Asuna," she said, gesturing toward Nodoka, covered in perspiration as she sat in her chair with her eyes shut, maintaining her network while simultaneously communicating with dozens of people.

* * *

Kotarou was among the pack of beasts, punching, kicking, and clawing to keep their attention away from the girls while Chizuru chanted her spell and Natsumi stood by, supporting Chizuru's magic with her own.

"Let the one hundred ninety nine spirits of lightning shoot arrows at the enemy!" Chizuru said, finishing the powerful spell.

Kotarou, who had long since learned to dodge lightning by sensing the buildup of energy, flitted about among the pack of enemies while they were blasted to cinders. He paused to dispatch the few survivors and watched as they dematerialized. "That's all for this group. How're the others?" he asked breathlessly as he trotted over to the girls. That had been a good workout!

Natsumi spoke up this time, wrinkling her forehead as she concentrated on Nodoka's network. "The dorm building is under attack, but Scary Max-sensei is there so it should be fine. There seems to be some sort of…ah…giant dog? Maybe a wolf, I guess, fighting the creatures in the downtown area, and Madoka-san's in a hard fight with the sister of one of Negi-kun's students. I think the vampire made her into a vampire too."

"Yeah, that Madoka's strong. I kinda want to see what sort of enemy could hold out that long against her," Kotarou said.

"We are closest to the dorm building, so we should fall back and provide support for Max-sensei," Chizuru said after a moment. Kotarou and Natsumi looked at each other and nodded.

"You're right, Chizu-nee."

"Yeah…I just hope he doesn't knock 'em all out before we get there," Kotarou complained as he began walking.

"Wait!" Natsumi suddenly shouted, concentrating on the new information coming in over Nodoka's network.

"Natsumi…?"

"It's Asuna, she's found him! She's found Jonus Hart!"

* * *

_**Author's Notes**: Ah…fighting. Ain't it fun? But what's the deal with Negi? Anyway, the next chapter will contain copious amounts of violence. And pretty girls. And everything you've ever wanted in an action movie. Look forward to the climax of the vampire arc!  
_

* * *

Liliana Rosario - Stereotypical American Girl (See short story The Ace of Spades)

Born - 4/19/1992

Height - 5'1"

Calligraphy Club

Likes: Fast cars, her older brothers, shiny metal

Dislikes: irritating people, bad smells, small rooms

Roommate: Nelle

Little Known Facts: She is very good at energetic, large scale calligraphy, to the point where the club regularly asks her to perform exhibitions during the school festival.


	28. Ch 26 Intruder pt 5

**Still Waters 3, Chapter 26, Intruder Part 5**

* * *

_"Behold, the Daughter of the Crescent Moon. Born in the year of the wolf, she will be known by the colors blue and red, and the crescent moon shall be her crown. The Blue Devil. Cities will burn by her hand."_

Excerpt from the notes of Brother Benedetto, February 18th, 2008_, _translated from_The End Time Prophecies, Part 1, Volume 25, Personages of Import, as Compiled by Merlin IV._  


* * *

The woman with the long ponytail stood in the middle of the deserted street, grinning confidently at the man standing opposite.

Jonus couldn't help but be troubled by the woman standing before him. Something about her face tugged at his memory, but he couldn't figure out why. "Who are you?"

"Isn't it rude to ask someone's name without offering your own, first?" the woman replied. And then, as if in mockery, she smirked at him.

Jonus cocked an eyebrow at her reply. The woman seemed intent on making him angry. "Very well. I am the Great Vampire Lord Jonus Hart, the Ripper, Kingsbane. And you are?"

"Kagurazaka Asuna, Shinmeiryu Executioner, the Redhead Whirlwind, and the one who will defeat you!" Asuna said as she shrugged off the sword case hanging from her shoulder and drew a curved black sword.

Jonus put a little more space between them. Shinmeiryu? Even in the other world they knew the name. And that was no ordinary demon sword...! So, one who carried such a powerful blade and had earned the title of executioner too! This one was almost certainly far more dangerous than she appeared, but…no matter. He had faced tough opponents before, and no doubt would again; this woman was simply one of the tougher sort, he thought as he surreptitiously dropped a small, smooth stone on the ground.

"Prepare yourself, Executioner. This night may well be your last," he warned dramatically, taking another page from Zeph's book as he stretched a little and popped his knuckles, Possum's magically charged blood still running through his system. He felt a little careless, a little wild, but mostly he just felt powerful. 'That girl's blood is a potent drug,' he thought.

Asuna just grinned a devil-may-care grin and went into a stance with a fluid motion.

Then the Jonus vanished and she barely got her sword up in time to slice through the shadow creature that attacked from above.

* * *

Endo Haru stood her ground, an enormous white wolflike beast on four legs facing a dozen and more shadowy shapes. Most looked like dark, shadowy dogs or wolves, only they just looked _wrong_ in a way that made her stomach heave_, _as if they had been ripped from the delusions of someone suffering from Paranoid Schizophrenia. This otherworldly sense of wrongness pervaded the street, and she just couldn't escape the stink of it in her nostrils. A low growl rose unbidden from her throat as she faced them, and she had to fight down an animalistic urge to just let go and destroy everything. It was the animal side of her, the beast hidden deep within her mind, hidden deep within the mind of every being of her sort. It was always there, pacing like a lion in a cage, waiting for its chance to escape and take over, to taste blood. She had fought down any sign of it since she was old enough to know how, but every once in a while...

Her growl grew louder as she snapped at one of the shadowy monsters that ventured too close.

_Kill it._

'No!' she thought frantically, recoiling from the horrid thought.

She shuddered and backed away until something snapped at her tail. She whirled, fangs bared as she snarled at it. It leaped away at the last instant with a yelp, and she felt an animalistic sort of excitement, a primal urge to chase the feeble _thing_ running away from her, which she only fought down with an intense mental struggle.

They were all around her now; she could smell them. Hiding in the shadows, circling, looking for an opening…she snarled again as one darted in from the side and made an ineffectual snap at her back leg. Another came in while her back was turned and slashed at her side; her teeth raked along its back, tearing shadowy flesh and splashing bubbling black ichor on the ground as it struggled out of range of those teeth.

_Kill it kill it kill it! I want to see blood!  
_

'No! Go away, I can't hear you!'

_Blood, blood, blood! Ha! I will not be denied…!_

'No!' Haru thought, forcing the bundle of violence and bloodlust back into its hole. She stumbled with the effort, and the creatures surrounding her saw their chance.

A shadowy lion, easily half again the size of its cousins in Africa, leaped to her back and latched onto the back of her neck with powerful jaws, whipping its head back and forth to tear at skin and fur.

The dogs swarmed in around her, ripping at her sides and legs, trying to tear her belly open even as she spun and snapped at them. One that resembled a bull charged in from the side, and only a quick whirl saved her from being gored. She took a clumsy swipe at the bull and knocked it away.

_If you don't fight, we'll die._

Haru stumbled and almost went down again as one of the dogs bit deeply into the back of her leg. She was bleeding from a dozen small wounds now, and still the lion tore at the back of her neck.

'I can't! I don't want to die like this!'

_Then let me free._

'I can't, you won't go back if I do that,' Haru thought, pleading. That lion was really starting to _hurt_. She yelped as something nipped at her tail.

_Then we will die._

And then, a new scent caught her attention. A thin scent, terrified and excited. A scent like an inquisitive mouse, too curious for its own good.

A haze of pain was clouding her mind, but she recognized that scent. She should recognize it after all, she was around it every day.

It was her foolish classmate Suzuki Keiko. She had come back, and the creatures had spotted her.

* * *

Keiko watched in awe around the corner of a building as the huge white creature that had been her classmate moments before tried to fight off the weird creatures that had come out of the shadows.

'Is…is it still Endo-san?' she wondered. And for that matter, what _was_ it, anyway? Whatever it was she was seeing should have been utterly impossible. Roughly thirty feet long from the tip of its nose to the end of its tail, it looked like some sort of cross between a wolf and a fox, only with weird designs in the fur on its head and shoulders. How could something like that even _exist_? Logically, it should have collapsed under its own weight, but... After a moment, a word floated up from the depths of her mind and she spoke it, unbidden. "Youkai?"

Something growled behind her.

* * *

_She will die if you don't let me out._

'Keiko-san…'

_Do you want her to die?_

The creatures were swarming all over Haru now, and it was all she could do to stay on her feet. And still that lion was working away at the thick tissue on the back of her neck…

'No…!'

_I'm taking over now._

'No! You _can't!_

'Be quiet. I have to do this for us to survive.'

The change was immediate. While Haru's movements before had been awkward, clumsy attempts at self defense and intimidation, now they were swift and lethal.

She threw herself to the ground and rolled, smashing the lion hanging on her back. She was up on her feet again in an instant, swatting an attacking dog into a building with one monstrous paw. One of the larger wolflike creatures took advantage of her turned back to take the fallen lion's place, but she whipped around and snatched it out of the air with her jaws and gave it such a violent shake that the front half ripped loose and bounced off of a light pole. She spat out the foul tasting remnants and let loose with an otherworldly howl that echoed from every corner of the city.

The creatures backed away, but she wouldn't allow that, not now. She went into the shadows after them, ripping, tearing, destroying them en masse until a painful scream cut through the chaos of battle and jerked her attention toward Haru's forgotten classmate.

_It's Keiko-san! Hurry, you have to help her!_

'…she smells delicious…'

_No!_

* * *

The creature had taken Keiko by surprise. The only warning she had was a short growl and the scuff of paws on pavement as the shadowy wolflike creature launched itself at her. It had borne her to the ground and would have ripped her throat out had she not managed to get her arm up in time to take the brunt of the attack. Bones snapped and blood flowed and she screamed as the beast ripped and tugged at her arm, dragging her along the ground as it growled and slavered, spittle flying around as it tore at her.

The pavement rumbled and the beast looked up, letting go of her arm just in time for the front half of its body to disappear into the mouth of a giant white wolf. The wolf bit down hard, crushing the body of the shadowy creature with a disgusting crunch, then spit it out and left it lying on the road, still twitching.

Keiko just lay there, cradling her ravaged arm, taking fast hitching breaths and barely able to think over the pain flooding her body and fogging up her brain. She felt as though it didn't really matter, however, and eyed the growing pool of blood she was lying in with a distant sort of clinical awareness that This Was A Bad Thing. The pain started to fade then, and she felt cold. 'I'm going into shock…' she thought hazily. 'Chemicals are...chemicals...' The thought trailed off into a meaningless jumble of words until she realized she was rambling, then shook her head weakly to clear it. It didn't help much.

'…am I going to die?'

She had just enough energy to roll from her side over on her back, so she did so, wincing at the pain in her arm. The big white wolf was standing over her now, its teeth bared in what looked almost like a grin. She watched in an unattached fashion as saliva dripped from its maw and landed on her shirt, adding to the blood and ichor stains already there.

'…I should call for help…' she thought as the wolf's head darted down toward her. She barely managed to summon the energy to close her eyes tight and turn her head so she wouldn't have to watch.

* * *

'STOP!' Haru screamed mentally as she finally wrested control from the other one.

_No no no! I'm hungry! I need meat, flesh and blood! _

'No! Not Keiko! If you need to eat something, eat those black things!' Haru said frantically, using every last ounce of willpower to crush her animal side and force it back into its cage.

_That is disgusting,_ it replied primly, its voice suddenly free of the rage and bloodlust of battle. The sudden change in tone startled Haru so much she almost lost control as the animal part of her took advantage of the brief opening and tried to surge back out. Haru barely managed to hang on. She fought long and hard, using every last bit of willpower she could muster, and finally muscled it back into its cage, which she envisioned wrapped in chains and buried under a mountain. It grumbled for a moment and then fell silent, and she was finally free to relax and cry.

* * *

As she swam in and out of consciousness, Keiko had a flickery image of a huge white wolf standing over her, poised to attack…until it jerked its head away and staggered off. She watched it wander away perhaps thirty feet down the street until it collapsed in exhaustion and started to shrink, until its form finally solidified into the body of a girl in her mid teens.

* * *

"Endo-san is down," Kazumi said frantically.

Nodoka nodded, her eyes closed, as she manipulated the dozens of small books floating in the air in front of her. "Konoka, please take Setsuna with you and see to them," she said, barely moving her lips.

It was the largest network Nodoka had ever put together, and it was a tremendous strain to keep it up and deal with the input from over three dozen people all at once. Chachamaru and Rally were helping, but it most definitely wasn't easy. She smiled slightly when Misa wiped the sweat from her forehead with a dry cloth, and murmured a quiet "Thank you." Misa said something she didn't hear, but that was okay. While the success of the battle did not depend on her, her network had already proven invaluable; in fact, the worst injuries thus far other than what had happened to Endo-san and Keiko-san and the mind controlled thugs were a few scratches, a bunch of bruises, and a broken arm.

Things were looking up.

'Ayaka-san, please hurry to Asuna's position and back her up. Kaede-san, please head to the district to your east, there is a large outbreak of fighting in the park there.'

She paused to listen to their responses and get Kaede's okay. 'Correct. Some of the vampire's human slaves are fighting with gang members in the park. Paru, please check up on Endo-san until Konoka and Setsuna can get there. Nakamura-san, please take the others and go west two blocks, there are two monsters cornering a civilian.' Things seemed to have settled down for a moment, so she slumped in her chair and rubbed her forehead.

"Are you okay?" Ku Fei asked. She had seen Nodoka do similar work many times before, but never had she opened so many volumes or kept a network running for so long.

"Yeah, don't burn yourself out, Nodoka," Misa added. "If you need to take a break, feel free. Me and Sakurako can set up a temporary network with pactio cards while you cool down."

Nodoka shook her head. "I'm fine, just a little headache." she neglected to tell them it felt as if someone was jabbing white hot knives into her brain.

"Nodoka! I've lost video from Asuna and the vampire!" Kazumi shouted.

Nodoka sat up straight and focused on the network again. Her headache was throbbing in time with her heartbeat now, but there was no helping it. 'Ayaka, go toward Asuna's last known location to provide backup immediately please. We've lost video, be careful.' Nodoka smiled in spite of the stress, the throbbing headache, the worry…this was what she lived for.

* * *

Asuna dodged, parried, stepped aside, and sliced yet another summon apart, twirling the blade just in time to force Jonus to back off quickly if he wanted to keep his head where it was.

The battle slowed for a moment, and both combatants stood facing each other, twenty yards apart.

"You're good," Jonus said, breathing heavily from the strain of keeping up with Asuna and maintaining the creatures he had summoned. He winced as a particularly powerful one went down a quarter mile away to the sound of a chainsaw. 'How did she escape those magic arrows? I was _sure_ they hit her...!' he thought worriedly. Something strange was going on here... He dropped the final pebble and took a few steps back.

Asuna took a few steps forward and lopped the head off of a summoned shadow warrior that had been sneaking up behind her, and faced Jonus again. "So are you. Why don't you just go back to the other world like a good little vampire?"

"I'm afraid that's out of the question, girl. I let myself get out of control; there's no way the council would let me off so easily if I went back," Jonus said, smiling crookedly. He heaved a regretful sigh and stood there, looking at Asuna. "I am glad I met you, Kagurazaka Asuna. You are a fine warrior, and a beautiful one too. So it is with great regret that I must inform you that you have already lost."

"What?"

Jonus raised one hand high in the air and snapped his fingers. "Activate!"

Asuna barely had time to register what was going on as the small stones Jonus had dropped throughout the fight began to glow and the complex magic circle she had unwittingly stepped into activated, temporarily cutting the area she stood in off from reality, effectively freezing her in place.

"First line: break," Jonus said. One of the lines in the circle glowed and fragmented, and Asuna, unable to move, was engulfed in magical flames. Jonus frowned as the flames died away to reveal Asuna, her clothes burned and falling apart, but otherwise fine and still frozen in the trap.

"Second line, Third line: break." Again, the magical effects were negated, and Asuna was starting to show signs of movement as the intricate time lapse trap began unraveling. 'That should be impossible! The Atlantean magic circles are flawless!' he thought in horrified surprise. What was going on?

"What _are_ you…?" Jonus said to himself as he watched the Atlantean magic circle start to come apart. "All lines: break!" he commanded.

* * *

Ayaka saw the glow of powerful magic from the next street over and put on a burst of speed. She made it around the corner just in time to see what was happening to her friend and rival.

"Asuna…!"

The pavement under Asuna first crushed downward from a gravity line and then blew upward as if someone had planted a bomb underneath as the ancient magic of Jonus's spell circle detonated line by line. The rolling shockwave was tremendous; even Jonus, a powerful vampire in his own right, had to brace himself to keep from being blown away.

"Adeat!"

He didn't have time to dodge Ayaka's gauntleted fist however, which crushed the side of his face and sent him twirling through the air to land in a heap twenty feet away. He barely had time to register what had happened when a vicious kick took him in the side, breaking his arm and a few ribs and sending him into a brick wall, which collapsed in a cloud of dust and debris, luckily obscuring his position.

Jonus wasted no time and sent one of his more powerful summons to deal with the interloper while he gave his wounds a temporary patch job, hissing as the ripped skin and broken bones knitted together. He had made a mistake by allowing himself to focus solely on Asuna, and for the first time he realized just how badly he had messed up here. While he had exaggerated the Council's probable reaction to his actions in this city, he _had_ made mistakes, far too many mistakes. It had all started with the first Cade girl, he thought bitterly. Since he had stumbled across her, his normally logical mind had been clouded by the power of her blood; but if Lucy Cade's blood had been a fine wine, her younger sister's had been the strongest undiluted absinthe. He shot a quick glance toward the spot where he had trapped Asuna and was glad to see her buried among the debris of the street; her arm was sticking out from underneath a chunk of concrete. 'No time to waste, I have to _move_,' he thought as he backed into the shadows and jumped halfway up the side of a building and clung there. He shot a quick glance at the blonde girl just in time to see her take down his summon and look around, searching for him.

"Spirits of Shadow obey! Binding Shadows!"

Three black rings of power appeared around Ayaka and tightened around her chest, waist, and ankles with tremendous force, pinning her arms to her sides and her legs together. She hit the ground an instant later, unable to do anything about the two hundred-odd magic arrows that followed almost immediately.

Luckily, she didn't have to.

"Shield Wall, Deflection!"

The magic arrows erupted in a massive cloud of smoke as they began hitting the magic shield, again hiding the battlefield in smoke and debris.

* * *

"Are you okay?"

Ayaka almost couldn't believe her eyes. There, in front of her, stood Negi, holding the shield spell in place with one hand as the arrows detonated against it.

"Are you okay, Ayaka?" he asked again, and she couldn't help but smile hugely at him.

"I'm fine. You should worry about Asuna, that violent monkey got herself pinned under some rubble," she said, nodding her head toward where she had last seen the red headed girl. "Just give me a second and I'll be out of this..." she said as she struggled against the magical bindings.

"I understand," Negi said. The last of the magic arrows detonated on the shield, and he let it fade out. A quick wind spell blew the smoke out of his way as he stepped forward, staff in hand, and stared down the vampire.

"Don't you think it's time to face your real opponent?"

* * *

Madoka slipped Lucy Cade's jab and returned it with one of her own. Lucy evaded, but Madoka followed up with a series of high speed punches and elbow strikes that forced the American girl back until one fist struck her shoulder. Lucy rode the momentum of the punch and spun around with a roundhouse kick aimed at the spot where Madoka's head met her neck and missed by a hair as Madoka jerked back. The two jumped apart for an instant, then went at each other again.

Punches, kicks, all sorts of tricks known to those who make a habit of fighting…and for a time they stood toe to toe and threw everything they had at each other.

And suddenly one of Madoka's punches landed solidly and Lucy went flying through the big plate glass window of a shop front across the street. Madoka took the chance to try and catch her breath, but the other woman wouldn't have any of that.

"You…that _hurt_!" Lucy bellowed, showing the first real emotion she had shown throughout the entire encounter as she climbed out of the ruined storefront. "_I'll kill you_…!"

Madoka grinned maniacally, her eyes wild as she took in her charging opponent and ran to meet her.

Punch, punch, elbow, block the chop coming for her face, slip inside that punch, and-get the wind knocked out of her by a vicious spinning kick she didn't even see coming. Madoka went flying and bounced painfully off of a wall and rolled out onto the cracked pavement of the street.

Lucy was after her in an instant, jumping up in the air to land square on Madoka's chest with both feet in an attempt to crush her rib cage. Madoka rolled aside just in time and grabbed one of Lucy's legs before she could get away, twirling herself around and driving the other woman painfully to the ground as Madoka tried to break her ankle, only to get kicked in the face and let go at the last second.

Lucy didn't even give Madoka time to do more than get her legs under her before she charged straight into her, driving her to the ground as she swung wildly, screaming obscenities to which Madoka replied in kind as the two of them rolled around on the ground, trying to get the advantage.

"I'll kill you! I'll kill you, you bitch!" Lucy screeched. Madoka growled something unintelligible in return as she punched Lucy in the face and knocked her off long enough to gain her feet. Lucy charged at her again and Madoka set herself for a massively charged punch as a familiar crackling blue energy sprang into being around her.

Lucy stepped inside and took the hit to her face at an angle that deflected some of the blow but left her clumsy and dazed, but managed to stomp her leg between Madoka's and flip her sloppily over her hip. Madoka flailed for a grip on something as she lost her footing and ended up with a handful of Lucy's hair, and used everything she had left to whip the blonde girl's face into the pavement as she fell.

The two of them lay there, unmoving.

Madoka's eyes fluttered open and she found herself staring up into the night sky as her chest heaved, trying to catch her breath. She spared a glace at her opponent, and was relieved to see that Lucy, while not moving, was still breathing. And then…Madoka did a strange thing.

She laughed.

It started as a little giggle, but quickly grew into a full blown gale of laughter as she lay there, staring up at the streetlights, red tinged now that some blood from a cut on her forehead had gotten into her eyes. Her face felt puffy and sore, her nose was bleeding, and her body felt like it had been hit a few hundred times with a giant meat tenderizer, but all in all…she felt fine. She was better than fine, she was ecstatic. Now, this…! This was what she had been looking for! An opponent against whom she could give her all! Her laughter finally ran its course and shrank into little gasping giggles that finally faded away as she looked again at her opponent, who was finally starting to stir.

* * *

Lucy Cade lifted her aching head from the broken concrete and looked dazedly at the blood dripping from her face and pooling in the cracks and hollows of the ruined road beneath her. She ached all over. Had she been hit by a car? The last thing she remembered was getting off the train…

Wait.

She looked at the weird lacy black detached sleeve she wore on her left forearm, then at its ragged, torn twin on her right. She had seen fans of punk rock wear similar things in the US, but had never owned anything like that herself, much less worn one. What on Earth…?

"You okay?" someone asked nearby. Lucy felt an immediate urge to maim, but didn't know why. For some reason, she wanted to kill the owner of that voice; rip and tear and drain her dry. The feeling quickly faded however, and she found herself utterly exhausted and even more confused. What had happened here?

"Are you okay there?" The speaker sounded very tired.

Lucy tried to push herself erect, realized her body felt like it had been run over by a bulldozer, and decided to gently lower herself to the ground with a pained "Ow". Whoever it was off to her left giggled a little. It had an amusing, almost hysterical sound, but somehow it felt right, and she was surprised to find herself reciprocating.

Soon, Madoka and Lucy were both laughing like a couple of loons as they lay in the middle of the road, surrounded by the smoking ruins of what had been a nice neighborhood not too long ago.

* * *

Negi's magic-charged fist hit squarely in the middle of Jonus' chest, blasting him back and leaving him stunned and breathless for a few seconds. "Scathach, who reigns over the realm of shadows! Surrender unto my hands thirty thorn-bearing lances. Spears of lightning!"

Jonus dove to the side to avoid the first lightning spear only to step straight into the path of the second and third. The explosion threw him back again. He rolled with the impact of his landing and caught Negi coming in with a stiff strike with the heel of his hand. Negi staggered back, taken off guard. Jonus darted up to him, chanting his spell quickly as he went. "Forty-seven-spirits-of-shadow-come-together-and-strike-my-enemy-convergence-of-shadow!" Negi ducked the spell, snagged Jonus' hand, and flipped him neatly to the ground, but he was up again before Negi could capitalize. The two stood facing each other for a moment, breathing heavily after the brief burst of violence.

"You're good," Jonus said, watching for an opening. "You've been trained by a vampire, haven't you? Was it McDowell?"

Negi's eyes narrowed. "Would you like to meet her? If you get rid of your shadow summons and drop the mind control-" he stopped talking long enough to turn and hit the shadow warrior coming up behind him with a solid strike to the chest that would have killed a normal man. The summon was dematerialized, and Negi darted to the side just in time to avoid the rain of shadow spears the vampire sent at him the instant his back was turned. Negi quickly slipped into the shadow of an alley and looked around carefully for any sign of the vampire. Jonus was fast, and he was clever. Without a doubt he was a dangerous enemy, and he obviously didn't want to negotiate. 'Now,' Negi thought to himself. 'What would Eva do?'

* * *

"What is he doing?" Kazumi asked as she watched Negi climbing up the side of a building on one of her monitors. "Why isn't he flying?"

Eva watched the scene with interest. "He's trying to sneak around him. He knows Jonus must be somewhere nearby, so he's trying to get a good line of sight without being detected. If he flew, he would be much easier to spot..." She continued watching in silence for a moment until the image disappeared in a burst of static.

"Camera's down again," Kazumi said, sighing. Hang on, I'll get another one up in a moment..."

* * *

"Damn, I should have recognized the Eye of the Fates for what it was!" Jonus growled to himself as the remains of the magical drone he had just destroyed disintegrated. 'Who could have known it had been assigned again? The council will need to hear of this as soon as possible...' he thought. The Eye of the Fates...one of the most powerful pactio artifacts in existence, the information it provided could be extremely valuable to those who knew how to use it. But who had it been assigned to...? He doubted it was the son of the Thousand Master, he didn't seem the type. A pactio partner of his, perhaps? This would require further looking into-

"Don't move or I'll release this spell into the back of your head," Negi said conversationally.

Jonus froze on the spot. "Clever. I didn't expect you to be able to find me up here...how did you get up here without flying?" he asked, looking down at the plaza where they had been fighting before.

"I climbed," Negi said dryly.

"I see. Black Saw!" Jonus said, whipping around to fling the circular shadow-based magic projectile at Negi as he threw himself backward off the rooftop. He let himself freefall until he heard the projectile detonate, then darted through the air ten feet above the ground and slipped into the shadow of a decorative arch on a nearby building and waited, out of breath. He held no delusions that that Black Saw had finished his opponent off; it was simply a trick, a distraction. Weak, but still incredibly useful when handled correctly. The Black Saw was _so _useful, in fact, that he had been using it for well over eight hundred years; it was the spell he had used the longest out of his vast repertoire, and for good reason. Simple, effective when used correctly, and all it took was two words to cast. But the young man he had been fighting was clever, very clever, and Jonus hadn't been in a real fight, a _serious_ fight, in over a hundred and fifty years. This...could be a problem. He extended his consciousness out across the city to locate his closest familiars, but there were none close enough to be of immediate help; the nearest ones had been dematerialized already. Nevertheless, he called all the rest to his location. If they got there in time, great. If not, well...he was over a thousand years old, he could take care of himself. An explosion rocked the city and he winced as several of them were wiped out before he could close the connection.

"Damn it Zeph," he muttered to himself. "This is the last time I ever do anything for _you_..." He briefly considered summoning some more minions, but the summoning of any shadow minion powerful enough to be useful against this opponent would take far too long, not to mention it would give away his position. His magic was running far too low for his tastes as well; holding on to the mind control and supplying his summons with power was starting to get exhausting. Time to change tack. He called the nearest mind controlled thugs to his location and cancelled his hold on the rest while halving the power he was sending to his summons. He placed a seven-layer shield spell on himself, then dropped down to the ground and stepped out into the open.

"Boy! Come out! Let us talk!" he bellowed out into the night air.

* * *

"...what is he doing?" Yuuna asked warily as she watched the monitors.

"Drawing the boy out," Eva replied. She crossed her arms. She had known of Jonus Hart for quite some time; while not the most flashy of vampires, he was well known for being quite skilled, and had a great many spells at his command. But what was he planning here...?

"So...is it a trick?" Yuuna asked. "If it is he's an idiot, Negi'll see right through it."

"As much as I hate to admit it, he's not an idiot," Eva said reluctantly. "Though today's show is out of character for him. In any case, I think he's honestly calling the boy out."

* * *

Negi floated down from a nearby rooftop on his staff and stood twenty yards away from the vampire, watching him. "Well? Have you decided to surrender?"

Jonus snorted and shook his head. "I'm afraid I can't do that. If I don't have something to show for it, I can't go back home. Instead, I have a proposition."

"A proposition," Negi repeated, curious. "I can't promise anything, but I'll listen to what you have to say."

"Very wise, very wise," Jonus said, nodding as his mind raced. The boy was obviously naive. If he had been facing one of the others, they would have stabbed him in the back already. "I propose a test of power. Magic arrows, as many as we can manage. If I win, you die. If you win, I leave and never come back. Do we have a deal?"

Negi snorted in amusement and shook his head, then grinned at Jonus. "You...don't really seem like a bad person. If you hadn't attacked my city, I think we could have been friends."

Jonus couldn't help but grin at that. He kind of liked this kid, he had guts; it'd be a shame to kill him. "So, do we have a deal?"

Negi shrugged. "Sure."

"Five Hundred Ninety Three Spirits of Lightning, Come Together and Strike My Enemy! Series of Lightning!"

Negi's eyes widened, but he had already started his spell, and it was too late to use more arrows now. "Three Hundred Forty Seven Spirits of Lightning, Come Together and Strike My Enemy! Lightning Series!" He paused just long enough to let the spell complete, then cast another as the magic arrows met each other and detonated in a massive explosion between them. "Shield Wall, Deflection!" Several magic arrows made it through the barrage and detonated against the shield Negi had set up, forcing him to stagger back.

"Hurl Down Lightning One Hundred Times! Hundred Thunderbolts!"

"Shield Wall, Deflection!"

Negi was again blasted back behind his shield, and Jonus wasn't about to let him regroup.

"Hurl Down Lightning One Hundred Times! Hundred Thunderbolts!"

* * *

"Dammit somebody's got to go and help him!" Yuuna said, pacing rapidly around the room in Eva's house.

"They're too far away, you won't get there in time," Eva said, her eyes glued to the monitor. "Even if you managed to, you'd just distract him at a vital moment. He's rarely faced such a dangerous opponent; all we can do is watch."

"Th...then what about the city?" Yuuna said suddenly. "It's going to be ruined if they keep fighting there!"

Eva tore her eyes away from the monitor to look at Yuuna in surprise. It seemed that brain of hers wasn't made of stuffing after all... "What?"

"And that would be breaking the Ostia Convention too," Yuuna said, gaining steam. "It says right there in what, number four? Something like 'Mage combat must not be undertaken within the grounds of any community with a population of more than thirty', or something like that, right?"

Eva just blinked at her. "He's got shadow summons and mind controlled people wreaking havoc all over the city, specifically attacking civilians, and you want to spout regulations at him? What are you, twelve?"

Yuuna blinked at her. "Well you've got a point I guess, but he hasn't tried to damage any buildings or public property so maybe it would work, right?"

"Oh no..." Ku Fei said, her eyes going huge as she watched Negi on the monitor.

Eva and Yuuna turned to see what had put that note of dread into Ku Fei's voice and Eva had an urge to rub her forehead.

"That idiot..."

Yuuna grinned hugely. She recognized what Negi was doing; she had suggested it to him herself several months back in Eva's resort. "Ha! Look at that!"

* * *

"Heed the Contract and Serve Me, O Lord of the Heavens. Come Forth, Titan-Slaying Blazing Thunder. Hurl Down Lighting One Hundred Times and Even One Thousand Times! Thousand Thunderbolts Convergence!"

Jonus had just an instant to realize how utterly screwed he was before turning to flee as the massive thunderbolt created from merging a thousand of the already immensely powerful thunderbolts from the spell struck and blasted through all seven layers of his specialized shield spell as if they were made of paper.

* * *

The blast was enormous, but the wards Negi had set up funneled most of the concussive power up into the atmosphere in a brilliant display of flickering lightning and explosions. When the chaos had ended, Negi refreshed his shield spell and trotted over to where the spell had hit. The crater was black and smoking, but there was no sign of Jonus. "Any sign of him, Nodoka?" he asked.

'_No, but the summons are still active. He's still alive, be careful!_' the woman warned.

"So the rumors are true then, you're a real monster just like your father..."

Negi whirled around to face the direction the voice had come from and saw the vampire, barely able to stand after taking the brunt of the merged Thousand Thunderbolts.

Negi stiffened, but remained silent as he watched the vampire.

Jonus forced himself back to his feet and stood up straight. "That kind of magic was never my forte anyway," he said, utterly exhausted and yet still managing to grin.

"Sensei! Behind you!" a young voice called out.

Negi ducked and rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding a summoned demon's blade as it came down.

"Twilight Breaker!" Negi felt the power being ripped from the air as it streaked toward the source of the spell, and then a massive blast of bluish energy utterly obliterated the demon's upper half, and Negi finally caught a glimpse of who it was that had warned him.

"Kagami-san? Stay back, it's dangerous-" He realized he had just made a fatal mistake and turned his back on the vampire, but there was a sudden flurry of movement behind him as another of his students streaked in.

"Urk-!"

"Please pay attention to the fight, Negi-sensei."

Negi turned to see the class rep, Nakamura Sachiko, standing in a defensive stance facing Jonus Hart, who had tried to take advantage of Negi's momentary distraction.

Jonus rubbed his jaw, still sore where Sachiko's kick had connected, and grunted. No mere human had managed such a feat since well before he could walk in the sunlight. "That was well done, girl. You are another one I'd like to have…"

Sachiko just watched him, her expression distant and unreadable as it always was when she fought seriously. "I would die first."

Jonus didn't even have a chance to retort before he was hit from behind by a massive, unrefined ki blast that sent him rolling along the pavement.

"You've got no chance with her, you might as well give up now," Urashima Taro said.

"Everyone…" Negi said.

"Not…so fast! Not so fast!" Jonus shouted as he staggered to his feet. His face was hidden by blood and shadow, and his voice sounded garbled, as if he had fluid in his throat. "I will not be defeated by tricks…! Spirits of Shadow, Follow the Contract! Heal Me! Shadow Regeneration!"

"Sachiko-san, help Ayaka and Asuna!" Negi said as he faced the vampire. "Kagami, stay out of his range but feel free to blast him as soon as you get a clear shot."

Jonus staggered again as his injuries began to heal, and Negi knew he could waste no more time.

"Taro, with me!" Negi shouted as he charged the vampire. "Axe of Lightning!"

Jonus shot off a weak shield spell that slowed the lightning attack down enough for him to dodge, whipped around to get Negi from behind, and roared in agony when Taro's first ki-charged strike took him in the shoulder and nearly took off his his left arm, then ducked the punch from Taro that immediately followed. He grabbed Taro's arm before she could recover and threw her messily to the ground. He rolled away from a vicious downward strike from Negi that blasted a hole in the concrete and held out his hand, palm flat and fingers spread. "Sphere of Shadow!" Taro and Negi were immediately engulfed in a big black sphere that prevented any light from entering. Jonus, being no fool, turned to run while he still could just in time to spot Kagami, perched high atop a street light with the crescent moon behind her as she finished charging a spell.

Jonus' eyes widened and he staggered as everything came together in his head. The crescent moon in the sky behind her that looked as though it sat atop her head like a crown, the blue glow of her magic and the shining red of her hair… "My God…the Daughter of the Crescent Moon…"

"Twilight Breaker!"

Jonus threw up a flimsy shield, but it was too sloppily made and far too weak, nothing at all like his Seven Layer Shield; the blue energy beam went through it effortlessly and blasted him full in the chest, blasted _through_ his chest, and into the road. The asphalt collapsed under him and he was blown into the sewers underneath just as Negi and Taro emerged from the rapidly dissipating black sphere.

Negi waved Taro back and carefully approached the hole Kagami had made, watching for any sign of the vampire.

"Did we get him?" Kagami asked as she slid clumsily down the light pole and staggered from the impact of her feet hitting the ground.

"No. He escaped into the sewers," Negi said, staggering as the energy drain from the battle started to get to him. "He could be anywhere by now."

"Sorry, sensei…" Kagami said.

"Don't worry about it, this is a much better situation than if he had escaped unharmed." Taro ran to help support him as he staggered again and cocked his head to the side as he listened in on Nodoka's network. "Things are settling down now. The remaining summons faded out a moment ago, and there are only a few small fights still going," he said aloud for Kagami and Taro's benefit. "Now, where was Asuna-san…?"

"You…shouldn't come over here, sensei," Sachiko called out from somewhere in the shadows ahead.

"Why? What's wrong? Asuna-san?" Negi called out as panic took over as he shook off Taro's help and broke into a staggering run.

"No, sensei, don't come-!"

Negi froze as he reached the top of a mound of rubble and looked over the edge.

Sachiko and Ayaka stood protectively over Asuna, who herself sat hunched over on the ground, covered in blood and dirt and without a stitch of clothing, only her bells and the black sword she had carried for the past six years remaining. That, and a magic circle that seemed to have been carved into her back some years ago and had become scar tissue.

"Asuna…" he quickly turned away. "Sorry! I didn't mean to see!"

"It's all right, Negi." Asuna's voice was so tired and _beaten_ that he could hardly recognize it.

"Asuna, when did this happen?" Ayaka asked quietly. She had seen Asuna just the other day in the bath in Eva's resort, and the circle hadn't been there then. But those scars...there was no way it could be anything but an old injury.

Asuna sighed wearily. "I don't want to talk about it right now...I'll tell the story some other time. Get me a shirt or something, I'm cold," she replied tiredly.

* * *

Half an hour later back at Eva's place, Eva herself paced around the trio she had been training to face the vampire. "So, in the end, you ignored all the special training and just did what you usually do." She whipped around and pinned Sachiko in place with her ice-cold gaze. "That is not what I have been training you to do! If the boy hadn't been there, you three would be dead or worse by now. What happened?"

Sachiko somehow met her gaze and held it admirably, in Eva's opinion. The girl only twitched a little.

"I watched him move freely into and out of areas with high amounts of ultraviolet light with no negative effects," Sachiko said quietly.

"He also crossed the river just fine, so running water is out too," Taro added. She wasn't really sure _what_ she thought of the class rep, but somehow she didn't want to see the girl yelled at.

"And what about you? Do _you_ have anything to add?" Eva asked dismissively as she looked at Kagami, who backed up a step involuntarily.

"Th-they're right," Kagami got out after a moment. "I wasn't able to get any holy water, but I prepared some powdered garlic and released it upwind, but it didn't have any effect on him. I…I thought since he wasn't bothered by any of that sort of thing, it would be better to stop wasting time and support Negi-sensei…"

Eva closed her eyes and smirked. "Well, I suppose you did do well in your observation, at least. You are correct; The Great Vampire Lord Jonus Hart did not achieve that rank without being _very_ powerful. You are fortunate in that he had expended so much energy with those summoned creatures of his and the spells he used against the boy that he didn't have any power to spare for killing you. As for the usual tricks against vampires, he might have died if you were able to stake him. But none of you as you are now are capable of getting anywhere near him long enough to do it." Eva clasped her hands behind her back as she went into lecture mode.

Sachiko and Taro looked at each other wide eyed. 'Great Vampire Lord...!' They had all stumbled across the term a few times in their research in the secret section of the library.

"It was clear just how much more experienced he was than the three of you combined. Jonus was never much of a fighter, he always preferred to let his summons do the work; he is quite a competent battlefield commander, but for whatever reason he got ahead of himself tonight. In any case, you can be proud that you faced a Great Vampire Lord and came out alive," she said, then waved dismissively at the three girls and turned to go.

"Hey, Eva," Taro said suddenly.

Eva stopped and glanced back, one eyebrow cocked. "What?"

"So…how strong is this guy compared to you?"

Sachiko and Kagami looked at each other, then at Eva.

Eva just smirked, showing her fangs. "Two minutes," she said, holding up two fingers, then left the scene.

"Two minutes…?" Taro asked, confused. "What the hell is that?"

"Two minutes is how long he would last against her," Sachiko said quietly.

"Wow…" Kagami said. The best all three of them together could do against Eva was fifteen seconds...!

* * *

Jonus scrambled blindly through the sewer system until he finally located a drainage pipe and rushed out into the clear night air at the riverside, gulping in deep breaths of fresh air. It was as refreshing as the blood of a powerful mage after the stench of the sewers. Now…he desperately needed a pick me up. Maybe two young lovers whose blood he could drain…what he really wanted was some more of Possum's blood, but she was still tied up in his apartment on the other side of the city. He wondered briefly if he had become addicted like some two-bit amateur, and realized he was certainly in the process of it. If he had so much as a single drop of that girl's blood again, he wouldn't be able to stop short of draining her dry. But he had used so much power with his summons and the mind control he had used on those thugs, not to mention his fight the teacher and the extensive regeneration he had had to do... That merged Thousand Thunderbolts -a real stroke of genius, he reluctantly admitted- had almost killed him for real. If he hadn't had his Shadow Regeneration spell... He staggered back against the side of the drainage pipe and leaned on it for a moment. If he didn't get some more blood soon, he might find himself caught and easily killed. Even the most powerful of the vampire lords needed some blood now and then...

"Um…um…are you the vampire?" a small voice asked.

Jonus looked at the speaker, standing mostly in the shadows near the edge of a bunch of trees that came right down to the water, and was honestly surprised. The girl was short and cute and moved as if she was painfully shy. She was young for his tastes, very young, but in an emergency such as this…his needs overcame his common sense.

"Why yes, yes I am," he said as he moved smoothly toward her. "My name is Jonus. What is your name?" he asked as he stared into her eyes with his best hypnotic stare and put a hand on her shoulder. He didn't have Sir Alexander's skill with compulsion, but his abilities were nothing to sneeze at.

"Caro," she said, looking at him warily, now. She shot a quick glance back over her shoulder into the trees, and Jonus saw two darker shapes hidden among the tree trunks.

He lowered his hand and started to back away. What was going on here…? Was it a werewolf or another mage, hunting him? Maybe a priest? And the girl had been completely unaffected by his compulsion. If he had to fight again in his current condition… There were times for valor and times for cowardice. This…this was a time for cowardice. He took another step back. How far could he get, in his condition? He was willing to bet the answer was Not Very Far, but still... He took another step back.

The little girl grabbed his wrist and _squeezed_. He jerked back as the bones in his wrist snapped and ground together, but the girl refused to let go.

"I'm…I'm sorry, but you hurt my friends…I don't want to hurt you, but…but you hurt my friends!" she said, her eyes tearing up as she crushed his wrist and hand.

Jonus tried to bear with the pain, but…just because one just so happens to be a vampire does not make one immune to pain. He fell to his knees, feebly clutching his arm with his good hand, trying to pull away as he clamped his teeth together to keep from crying out.

Then…she let go.

Jonus fell to the ground in torment cradling his hand and wrist as the crushed bones began to rearrange themselves to their proper orientation. It was a slow and agonizing process, and Jonus had never been the best at withstanding pain. As he lay writhing on the ground, growling through his teeth at the agony in his hand, he caught sight of the girl again and realized just what she was. "…Demon…!" A real demon, like the one that other girl had vaporized with a single shot of...what was it? 'Twilight Breaker'? He had never heard of such a spell, but it had been incredibly powerful.

Caro shrank back as the two shapes hidden among the trees came forward into the light. Now that he could see them clearly, he recognized them easily; both were girls he had seen several times around campus during his earlier reconnaissance. Sakai Reiko and Zazie Rainyday…a couple of oddballs to be sure. They had seemed harmless for the most part, so he had decided to ignore them. It seemed now that that had been a costly error on his part.

"You are making a major mistake," he warned as he staggered up and leaned against a tree, his whole body aching and his wrist and hand still throbbing.

"No, you're making a mistake," Reiko said as she activated the spell field she had set up over an hour earlier. "Can't do much summoning in a dead zone, can you?"

Jonus' face tightened spasmodically when he accidentally bumped his injured hand. "What is going on here?" he managed between pained gasps. "How did you know where to find me…?"

Reiko grinned wickedly as she leaned heavily on a makeshift cane made out of a tree branch. "A little divination goes a long way, especially if you know the ghosts and spirits living here. Though I must say I'm surprised at how long it took you to find the only exit you were allowed to find."

Jonus decided to try another tack. "You know about the end world prophecies, right?" Caro looked confused, but Reiko's face went still. Zazie was just Zazie. "The Daughter of the Crescent Moon, that's her back there," he said, jerking his thumb back toward the city. "You know what that means, right?"

"'Behold, the Daughter of the Crescent Moon. Born in the year of the wolf, she will be known by the colors blue and red, and the crescent moon shall be her crown. The Blue Devil. Cities will burn by her hand'," Reiko quoted. The prophecies were creating quite a stir among the mage community; they had been discovered several years before by people in the church, and had only been released a little more than a year ago. She was quite surprised that he knew about them. "I know the prophecy. The 'year of the wolf' might be the same as the year of the dog going by the Chinese zodiac, which would put her age at somewhere near the students in Negi's current class. They say the Daughter of the Crescent Moon will help usher in an age of chaos. But that's quite a leap of logic you've made, vampire," Reiko said, speaking as if she was lecturing a stupid underclassman.

"Don't give me that," Jonus snapped, wincing as something inside his mangled hand snapped back into place. "I _saw_. She _is_ the Daughter of the Crescent Moon, no doubt about it. I need to get back and warn the council. We need to prepare-"

"You will do nothing of the sort," Reiko said, cutting him off.

"This is bigger than you or me, girl," Jonus said as he stood up. "I have to-"

"Your council is powerless; they can't do anything but fight each other. Now, the only thing _you_ 'have to do' is come with me," Reiko said as she pulled an object from her pocket and held it cupped in her hand.

"What's that?" Jonus asked warily as Zazie stepped up on one side of him and Caro on the other while Reiko approached from the front. He nearly jumped out of his skin when the two demon girls grabbed his arms.

"Ever play D&D?" Reiko asked, grinning in a magnificently evil manner as she showed him the small, elaborately shaped glass jar; it looked like something cheap perfume that was trying to look expensive might come bottled in. 'Man, am I good or what?' she thought to herself. She had been trying to find an excuse to use that grin for _years_ now…!

"D.N.D….?" Jonus asked worriedly as Zazie grabbed one arm and Caro grabbed the other.

Reiko's long practiced evil grin turned into an amused smirk before she could stop herself. "I think this'd make a good phylactery. A lich puts his soul in one," she explained upon seeing the vampire's confused expression.

"…why would anyone think that might be a good idea?" Jonus asked, suddenly distracted and flabbergasted at the concept and, truth to tell, too exhausted to really think about his situation in the face of this new ridiculousness. "What if someone broke it? What if someone stole it? What if the lich lost it? Too many things could happen. That's just…stupid…oh hell, you're going to put my soul in that jar, aren't you?"

Reiko resumed her evil grin. "It's called a phylactery," she said pleasantly.

* * *

Author's Notes: Yes, you read that right. Madoka _beat the vampire_ out of Lucy. And how was the fight between Negi and Jonus? I hope it was okay, I struggled with it for a while and ended up rewriting almost the whole thing twice. Ooh, and what's this with Reiko now?

* * *

Trinity Birdsong - Catatonic Demonic Target

Born - 6/18/1990

Height - 5'6"

Likes: Morning Glories, Rock Music

Dislikes: Health Food

Little Known Facts: Before she went catatonic, she liked to play the guitar and sing. The less said about that, the better.

* * *

Maple Birdsong - Chainsaw-Happy Twin (non-identical)

Born - 6/18/1990

Height - 5'4"

Likes: Hiking, Photography, Gardening

Dislikes: Crowds

Little Known Facts: She has a problem with accidentally breaking electronic gadgets within minutes of first touching them.

* * *

Zazie Rainyday - Happy-Go-Lucky Tree Climber

Born - 3/17/1989 (reported)

Height - 4'11"

Likes: Riceballs, birds

Dislikes: Nothing much

Little Known Facts: She likes to hang upside down from tree branches

* * *

Now, Updated character profiles!

* * *

Caro Shaw - Student number 21 - Cute Demon Girl

Born 2/28/1995

Height - 5'

Art Club

Likes: Bunny rabbits, tall trees, peaceful times

Dislikes: Violence, people who hurt her friends

Roommate: Sasaki Rina

Little Known Facts: Very good with her hands

* * *

Mochizuki Kagami - Student number 18 - The Daughter of the Crescent Moon, The Blue Devil

Born - 8/11/1994

Height - 5'5"

Cooking Club

Likes: Her brother, Misa-sama, cats, power

Dislikes: Idiots, dogs, evil vampires

Roommate: Endo Haru

Little Known Facts: Secretly likes cosplay, one of many secrets she has.

* * *

Endo Haru - Student number 17 - Shapeshifting Youkai in Denial

Born - 1/29/1995

Height - 5'7"

Bicycling Club

Likes: Running, rabbits, wolves, cats

Dislikes: dogs, her figure, the other her

Roommate: Mochizuki Kagami

Little Known Facts: Due to her family situation, her parents had to move many times in her childhood before they finally sent her to Mahora.


	29. Ch 27 Misora in the Magic World, Pt 1

_Author's Note:  And here we have a new arc; this one will probably be quite short, but I hope you enjoy._

* * *

**Still Waters 3, Chapter 27, Misora in the Magic World, Part 1**

* * *

_April 2, 2009_, _just before the start of the school year back on Earth_

* * *

Light trickled in through the crack between the shutters and fell upon the woman's closed eyelids.

"Ugh..."

She opened her eyes to find herself staring at an unfamiliar plank ceiling, and lay there in confusion for a moment before the events of the previous day began to replay in her mind. Waiting for the ambassador's caravan, the ambush, chasing the survivors down, and finally fleeing across the border to...where were they now? Granicus? No, she thought it might be Hecates; they hadn't quite made it to Granicus before nightfall. They had barely stumbled into town before collapsing after their wild escape through the forest; she vaguely remembered stumbling into a tavern somewhere where the bartender had a really distinctive brushlike bunch of blackish hair on the very top of his head. She groaned as she sat up and let her legs hang over the side of the bed. She had a killer headache...She swore bitterly to herself that she would never drink again, though she knew it was an oath she would undoubtedly break again, and probably sooner rather than later. But there, in that moment with her head pounding and feeling like she might puke her guts up at any moment, she was ready to swear to almost anything.

"Hey, Gilles," she called out, her voice cracking. She shook her head to clear it, wobbled back and forth as the world went for a quick spin, and pulled herself up off the bed. "Gilles!" she called again as she began picking up the clothes she had left on the floor the night before. She went over to the window, shorts in hand, and opened it to let some fresh air in; the heat in the room was stifling. It was a huge change from the heavy snow they had nearly frozen to death in up on the edge of the Hellas empire, but it was just as exhausting to deal with.

She was mostly dressed by the time a soft knock came at the door. "Misora? Can I come in?"

Misora pulled her shirt on. "Yeah. I need a debriefing," she said as she unlocked the door.

The door opened, revealing a dark haired young man with sunken eyes. He quickly scanned the room for anything out of the ordinary, an old habit he had never seen reason to break, even as he passed Misora a plate of breakfast.

"Sit there," Misora said, deciding she didn't feel quite as nauseous as she had thought a moment ago as she plopped down on the bed and chowed down.

Gilles nodded and took the chair indicated by Misora, and opened the folder he had brought with him. "Do you want to start with yesterday's mission, or would you like to know the current situation in town?"

Misora paused for a moment, mouth full of scrambled egg, and swallowed. "Tell me the situation in town first."

"The mayor wants us out."

Misora heaved a heavy sigh. Well, so much for a few weeks of rest and relaxation in a desert wasteland. "Anything else?"

"The local police force, such as it is, seems ambivalent for the moment, and the locals who know of our presence or have already heard the news are worried of course."

"Of course," Misora said sourly.

Gilles continued on, the corner of his mouth crooked upward in amusement as he spoke. "It seems someone downstairs in the bar last night recognized one of us and let the cat out of the bag. Ava's downstairs in the basement interrogating him now. Judging from the screams I heard earlier, he's probably ready to call himself Negi Springfield if we want him to."

Misora almost choked on another mouthful of eggs at the casual dropping of that man's name. As far as she was aware, none of the people under her knew how close she had been with the Thousand Master's son, and she intended to keep it that way. She had no intention of being kidnapped and used to cause him any trouble; Lord knew he could do that well enough on his own. A quick glance at Gilles' amused half-smirk, however, told her all she needed to know. She groaned and rubbed her forehead. "How long have you known?"

Gilles's smirk grew into a grin. "Oh, about ten seconds, now. I have always had my suspicions of course, but to think you really _were_ a part of the infamous harem of the son of the Thousand Master himself..."

Misora set the empty plate aside and flopped back on the bed, thinking back to those fun days with Negi and the rest of the class, and that painful time after she had left to answer Rome's call. She had lost some good friends in Rome, and it still hurt like hell to think about them; to put it truthfully, she still had nightmares about it, and secretly suspected she would until the day she died. "Just drop it, okay?"

Gilles nodded and went back to his notes. "Would you like to hear the local crime lord's opinion on the matter?"

"Is his opinion important?" Misora asked as she glared at the badly aged boards that made up the ceiling. Ugh...she hated local crime lords. They were always so pushy, so full of themselves, acting as if they were so important. Psh, there was one in every town, and they all had the uncanny ability to act, dress, and speak exactly alike. But she had bigger fish to fry and more important things to do, like finding shapeshifting assassins who kill ambassadors and their retinues to take their places, and wiping them out.

"He controls, or has sway with those who control, most of the flow of money in this town. My advice would be to ask for help while covertly offering a substantial bribe of some sort."

"Screw him."

"I see. In other news-" Gilles paused to stick his sword into the assassin who had just climbed in through the open window behind him, then wiped the blood off on the man's shirt and returned the weapon to its sheath. "Local crime lord's man, I believe. Ava! Ruden!" he called out loudly. There was an answering shout from somewhere downstairs, and Gilles continued with his report. "Ahem, as I was saying. In other news..."

Misora remained lying on the bed as she listened to everything Gilles had to report, only sitting up when two of the others, Ava, a beautiful young water mage from Elfenhof, and Ruden, a tall, glowering man from somewhere in Tempe Terra, came to remove the body.

"How's the interrogation going?" Misora asked, sitting up when she spotted Ava. Gilles paused, waiting for the answer.

"Well...he's sort of...unconscious right now," Ava said guiltily, hands messing with the loose skirt of her traveling dress as she bowed her head shyly.

Misora was struck once again by just how scary a water mage could be when angry. Ava was a perfect example: normally kind, even sweet, when she became angry she was truly dangerous and perfectly capable of manipulating water levels in one's body as punishment, said action expressly forbidden by the Ostia Convention or not. "What do you mean? What happened?" Misora asked, already knowing the answer. Girl was_ scary_ good with water, a lot like Akira.

"He...well..." she trailed off, looking helplessly at Ruden.

"He made a comment about Ava regarding a bed, a lack of clothing, and what she could do with him," the man said stiffly. Misora heard something new in his voice and gave the quiet man a measuring look as he heaved the dead assassin up onto his shoulder. Ava used a bucket and mop she had brought for the purpose to clean the floor before it could stain, then followed Ruden out.

"...huh. I never woulda thought it," Misora said when she was again alone with Gilles.

Gilles smirked and straightened his papers. "It isn't that much of a surprise, honestly. Those two have perfectly compatible personalities and have been fighting side by side for the past six months; I would think it would be stranger for them to have not developed any feelings at all. In any case, it is something to keep in mind. Now, as for the slain ambassador's allies-"

"We'll head east into Cerberus forest, cross the strait to the south and head into Elysium before anyone will even realize where we're heading. I had wanted to go on to Granicus and hitch a ride on a boat east from there, but that's out of the question now that everyone knows we're here... Maybe we'll head to Cephissus, or just go to one of the port towns. How does a boat ride sound to you?" she asked absently, grinning crookedly at the young man sitting across from her.

Gilles, for his part, found his mouth had gone dry as he looked at his boss grinning at him. Her face, that athletic body, those _legs_...but he would trade all of that for those eyes of hers, so full of life and devilment. She was as bewitching as the snake woman who used to come around every year to the fairs in his hometown. For the leader of one of the church's most important and _secret_ special agencies, she sure was a handful, he thought. He realized he was staring and quickly began sorting his papers, as he did any time he found himself at a loss for words. He didn't know if she was aware of his attraction, but he fervently hoped she would never discover its existence.

Luckily, leader or not, she was an idiot.

He made some notes to see about plotting a route through the forest and securing passage on a boat in one of the port towns in Elysium and stood up, carefully pushing the chair back under the table where he had taken it. "Where will we be going from the coast of Elysium?"

Misora leaned back a moment, looking at the ceiling, apparently unaware of her personal secretary's nervous shuffling. "Hmm...I'm thinking Vairocana, we can get to the Oni lands easily enough from there; we should be able to hide out there for a while to get things sorted out again unless something comes up. Maybe hire out an airship...it's too bad the one we had got shot down," she said as she stood up and began her morning regimen of stretches.

"O-Oni lands, yes," Gilles said, scribbling on a piece of paper.

"But I'd also like to get up to Moeris, it's time I sent another letter to Cocone," Misora said, twisting back and forth and finally leaning over backward.

Gilles gulped. "Moe-Moeris, yes. Letter to Cocone..."

"Yep."

"Aha..."

Misora got down on her hands and knees pulled her travel pack out from under the bed and began searching through it, pulling out random pieces of clothing and bath supplies as she did. Gilles' heart nearly leaped into his throat when she pulled out several pieces of underwear. "Ah...I need a bath..." Misora said absently.

"I-I-I'm a-afraid I mustbegoing!" he said.

Misora watched him flee the room and laughed lightly. 'Heh, he's almost as cute as Cocone!' she thought to herself, grinning wide.

* * *

Fate stood outside the door to the office his boss kept in New Ostia, not for the first time unsure of how he should handle this particular situation. The news he had brought was quite disturbing, in several ways. He had known about his boss's various plots, had thought he knew about _all _of them, in fact, but he hadn't known a thing about the murder of the Elysian ambassador to Zephyria and his replacement by a particularly gifted illusionist. He never _would_ have found out either, had the false ambassador's convoy not been wiped out. He wished again that he hadn't sent Shirabe to investigate the incidents in Ariadne almost a month ago; he could really use another clearheaded view on things right now.

"Enter."

Fate collected himself and entered his boss's office. As always, the place was utterly devoid of personality, while his boss sat on the other side of the desk, obviously aged, and yet his appearance unchanged from five or even ten years before. He felt a momentary urge to just take the man's head off and be done with it, but repressed it and stood at attention before the desk. If he were to kill Ocali Kaunt here, now, the entire magic world would be thrown into chaos and that would greatly hinder their overall plan, perhaps to the point of failure. He had to make up for his failure six years ago, when their last attempt had been ended before it ever really began by Jack Rakan.

"Ah, Fate. Welcome back. Sit down, sit down!" he said, gesturing toward one of the chairs he kept by the wall. He waited until Fate was seated and sat down behind his desk again. Now, to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?" To any other being, Ocali Kaunt would have seemed honestly happy to see him, but Fate knew different. The man simply didn't care at all.

"Why didn't you tell me you had replaced the Elysian ambassador to Zephyria?" Fate asked. He had debated with himself long and hard on how to approach this situation, had devised all sorts of scenarios, but ultimately it had all come to nothing. He knew it would all be lost on his boss.

"Oh? You haven't been snooping around in my affairs, have you?" Ocali asked in the same pleasant tones as before, the oddly pasted-on expression he had shown Fate upon his entrance to the office utterly unchanged. Fate felt a momentary twinge of disgust and horror. A created being- and that was what Ocali Kaunt had to be, Fate told himself- shouldn't be like this. The man was just, just _wrong_. Empty wasn't quite the right word, but it was close. 'How could no one else notice?' Fate asked himself, not for the first time. Ocali Kaunt was so utterly _alien..._he didn't see how it was possible for anyone else not to notice, and yet Ocali continued to build his power, continued to have candid talks with world leaders, ambassadors, and others in positions of power, and no one ever seemed to notice anything strange. Fate wondered for a moment if perhaps his mental processes had become corrupted, but one look at the man on the other side of the desk convinced him that there was nothing wrong with _him_. He fought back a shudder of revulsion.

"The matter was brought to my attention when I mistakenly received word that the false ambassador and his convoy had been killed in the Cerberus Forest," Fate replied, his carefully crafted expression betraying none of his disgust.

Ocali spoke up without a pause. "A shame. He was a good man." Fate clamped his mouth shut before he could say anything. That was Ocali's response to any loss of personnel, a simple 'A shame. He was a good man' was apparently all the man thought was warranted, no matter the level or importance of the losses. In this case the entire convoy had been wiped out, guards and all. Forty seven people, all told. Granted, virtually all of them had been utter scum (because when you needed murderers, assassins, and thieves to back up your fake ambassadors, you had to hire murderers, assassins, and thieves), but still...what sort of covert force could utterly wipe out that many hardened, tough men and women and then vanish without a trace? There had been other, similar incidents as well, from Elfenhof and Moeris to Zephyria and Ariadne, they had lost covert operatives everywhere. Not all of them of course, there were far too many and many were far too skilled to die so easily, but their losses had been unnaturally high. Honestly, Fate thought, it was a wonder he hadn't noticed the losses before. It was unsettling, and would require much investigation.

"I am planning to book passage and fly out by this afternoon; perhaps I may be able to discover who is responsible," Fate said stiffly.

"Very well. You are temporarily dismissed from your position as head bodyguard of Kurt Godel. Your ministra must remain in place there, however. Which ones are still there?" Ocali asked.

Fate looked at him levelly. "Homura, Shiori, Tamaki, and Koyomi. I had planned on taking Tamaki with me, as she knows the area better than I do-"

"No, the protection of Kurt Godel is more important at this time. You will go alone," Ocali said. "Was there anything else?"

Fate stood there looking at him for a moment. 'Was there anything else?' Of course there was! What about all the _other_ things Ocali was hiding from him, for a start? He was supposed to be Ocali's most important and trusted supporter, why didn't the man _tell_ him about things like the fake ambassador? If he had known about it beforehand, he could have gotten the ambassador some _real_ guards, not a bunch of ex-cons who had nothing to lose. But of course, Ocali was his boss, so...

"Understood. There was nothing else."

* * *

Misora's group left the outlaw town of Hecates shortly after noon, heading south as if toward Granicus. The group consisted of Misora and the six hand-picked members of her team; Ava, the sweet water mage, Ruden, the tall and imposing bruiser who focused on ability enhancement magic, Gilles, Misora's personal secretary and bodyguard, Sarah McDougal, an energetic woman who specialized in hand to hand combat who Misora had stumbled across stranded in Elfenhof after Sarah had gotten separated from her father, Scarlet Sorvino, an older woman with tremendous skills in swordfighting, stealth, and acrobatics, and the oldest member of the group, Sir Robert the Dragonslayer, an old wandering knight whose life Misora had saved when she found him wounded and in danger of bleeding out in the middle of a deserted road hidden deep in the mountains east of Ariadne. They were an eclectic group that constantly bickered and argued, and yet gelled together in a way that was nearly unbelievable when in combat.

Misora found herself wishing yet again as they set out on lizardback from the town that they still had Sarah's airship. While it hadn't been a particularly pretty one, it had been rugged, built for hard use, and fast enough when it mattered. Unfortunately, its outer plating hadn't been rated for dragon attack, and they had been forced down to crash land in the mountains of the southern part of the Hellas Empire, where they were technically not allowed to be. 'That was about a week before we found Robert,' Misora recalled as the miles slowly rolled by. 'Man, these lizards are slow...'

"Graaaah! I hate these stupid lizards, they're so slow!" Sarah bellowed as she shook the reins and booted the lizard in the ribs as if riding a horse. The lizard didn't respond; it simply kept plodding on relentlessly.

Misora grinned back at the woman as she adjusted her wide-brimmed hat. "It could be worse ya know, we could be walking instead."

Sarah sighed and mumbled something under her breath, and soon there was no sound but the wind over the desert and the steady clop-clop-clop of the lizards' feet in the sand.

"You know, if you gave up that ridiculous armor you'd be able to keep up better," Scarlet said suddenly, twisting in the saddle to smirk back at Sir Robert.

"Be quiet, woman. This armor has only been awarded to the greatest Dragonslayers in the history of-"

"Yeah yeah, blah blah. It only amounts to a tin can in the end. An _overweight_ tin can," she added, pointedly eyeing Sir Robert's belly, which even he had to admit had grown soft with age.

Sir Robert looked away, scanning the horizon. It was obvious the man knew he was past his prime, and yet he just couldn't let go of the adventuring life. Misora herself had felt hints of the same thing developing in herself; even after the relatively short time she had been away, she couldn't imagine going back to Mahora to live. Not that Mahora was boring or anything, but...life on the road had its own charm, even if you had to keep an eye out for assassins and wild animals all the time.

"I heard that there's been increased demon activity over in Tempe Terra lately," Scarlet said after a moment, mercifully removing everyone's attention from Sir Robert. She liked to tease him, but she also knew when enough was enough.

"The region or the country?" Ava asked.

"Region," Scarlet replied.

"Huh...outside of the Demon Zone?" Misora asked curiously. She hadn't heard anything about this before...then again, Scarlet seemed to hear a lot of things Misora hadn't known about.

"Yes. Someone in the last town said a small town was wiped out a week ago, and a truck stop was hit two weeks before that. Apparently there weren't any survivors."

A heavy silence fell over the group again as the lizards plodded on. A demon invasion was _all_ they needed to worry about now. But since the only working gate to the demon world was located deep in the dry desert wastelands of Tempe Terra where the conditions could get so harsh even a demon might have trouble weathering it, there had never really seemed to be much to worry about. The demons were generally different from the way their reputations made them appear, as well. There were a few bad apples of course, but for the most part they seemed to simply want to be left alone, hence the establishment of the Demon Zone, which included the so-called Demon Gate and miles and miles of deserted and unwanted land surrounding it. The demons didn't seem to mind the land's lack of fertility, no one else wanted it, and so an agreement had been reached and everyone was happy. But if the demons were attacking the human and beastman settlements... Misora shot a quick look back at Ruden, but the man's expression was unreadable through his sand goggles and the shade of his wide brimmed hat. If she remembered right, his home was near the Demon Zone...

"It's not our problem," Gilles said, expertly cutting through the tension. And, once again, Misora was amazed by the man's ability to read the situation.

'Heh, with a team like this, I don't have to worry about anything,' she thought to herself, grinning.

The lizards plodded on.

* * *

Nightfall found them camped at a hidden spring in a sheltered place among some ancient ruins hidden in a rocky ravine. Scarlet disappeared out into the night as she always did, and Misora took the first watch as the others bedded down for the night. Misora was a little amused to see Ava camped out next to a wall with Ruden located nearby in a defensive position, and wondered again how she had never noticed the way the two of them interacted before. It was downright _weird_. Or maybe not, honestly. She had had a lot to think about, and the past six months had been spent on a wild trek through the so-called Democratic Federation of New Ostia to the Hellas Empire and Ariadne, then on down to Sirenum and Zephyria before finally ending up in the Cerberus Forest, all the while investigating corruption and ferreting out attempts to enforce the more dangerous aspects of the End Time Prophecies. It had been a lot of exhausting, bloody work, but they had done a lot of good and directly helped a lot of people, and she wouldn't have traded that for anything. But now...

But now, after going over some of the documents they had seized from the obliterated convoy, it looked like something much bigger than anything she had faced to date was brewing. The fact that someone had managed to replace an ambassador with no one else realizing had been disturbing enough (and had taken a lot of work on everyone's part to dig up enough evidence to convince Misora of the truth thoroughly enough to plan a raid), but it appeared that the ambassador had been given very specific orders to perform certain actions once he arrived in the capitol city of Zephyria that were designed specifically to create tension and ultimately lead to open war between the two countries. The chaotic region around Granicus and the Cerberus Forest would be devastated in the ensuing destruction of mage-based warfare, which would also leave Zephyria and Elysium open to attack as well. The entire continent could collapse, and it was no exaggeration to say that it was a very real possibility, given the two countries' resources.

But why? Who could possibly want to do such a thing? What could be gained from destabilizing a whole continent already in seemingly-eternal tension? Maybe to get at the resources in the Cerberus Forest? But most of the valuable minerals and other resources there would be used up or destroyed during the war, leaving little of immediate use there, not to mention the loss of civilian life that would undoubtedly follow any fighting as well as the inevitable outbreak of banditry that would render the whole region too unstable for much of anything for years to come.

All of this left only one option that she could imagine: someone with a grudge who was willing to sacrifice millions of lives and the well being of a continent. A zealot. But then again, she thought as she considered what would have been necessary to replace an ambassador without anyone noticing, a zealot wouldn't have been able to pull off something of this magnitude _and stay quiet about it_. Zealots were generally known for two things: their passion over a cause, no matter how inane, and their inability to agree on anything when more than two or three came together for a cause. No, this was the work of a large, no doubt well funded and intelligent group, but...she scowled as she recalled the various code names that had been used among the documents as a method of hiding the identities of those involved.

Misora continued listening for anything out of the ordinary as she pondered the information available. So, someone rich, someone skilled in governmental actions, someone who didn't want to be identified. So...a high ranking member of some country's government? So, who was in a position to gain from a war between Zephyria and Elysium? The riding lizards began moving around uneasily and Misora froze in place, listening carefully. Something was happening out there in the darkness... One of the riding lizards let out a terrified squeal and was abruptly silenced, and Misora silently slipped deeper into the shadows. She heard the other lizards stampede out into the night, followed by the unmistakable sound of something taking a bite out of something else. A quick glance showed Gilles had likewise disappeared, his bedding left rumpled so as to appear to anyone looking in at a distance as if he was still in it. She heard something step on a patch of soft gravel somewhere in the darkness on the other side of the campfire, then came the sound of a boot scraping against rock much closer. Misora listened silently for any hint of movement, but then Scarlet was standing beside her and holding a finger up to her lips to indicate the need to remain silent. She pointed out into the darkness and gave Misora a sharp look.

At that moment, something growled long and low just outside the ring of firelight, and Misora started to sweat. That had been _big_. She frantically eyed the others, and was somewhat relieved to see Sir Robert was only pretending to be asleep, gripping the hilt of the huge enchanted sword he had been given for his achievements at the same time he had received his special armor. A quick glance showed Ruden and Ava had subtly moved to a more advantageous position so as to have the ruined wall at their backs, while Sarah was still dead asleep beside the fire. Something else growled and Misora looked worriedly at Scarlet, then gestured frantically at Sarah, who rolled over and went back to sleep. Scarlet shook her head and raised her hands helplessly. Scarlet stiffened beside her a moment later and grabbed her elbow, and Misora saw it: two shiny circles of light, the firelight reflecting from something's eyes. Judging from the height, it must be huge...! She looked back at Sarah, saw her turn to lay flat on her back and reach up to rub her eyes, and then the growling thing stepped into the circle of firelight and Misora's throat went dry. It was a gryphon, a freaking _gryphon_...! And a huge one too! She had never seen one as big as the one currently looking down at Sarah, it had to be at least six feet high at the shoulder...! Was this one of the legendary 'King' gryphons they liked to tell stories about in this part of the world? One that had lived so long that it had grown larger and tougher than any other? Hunters talked about whole parties getting wiped out by a single King gryphon... The growls from outside the firelight increased, and now she could see their shapes; maybe half a dozen more, much smaller than the first one, were advancing, moving out to surround Sarah and cut off any chance of escape. She cursed under her breath. A single gryphon was dangerous enough, but a whole pack, not to mention a King? She heard the sound of a sword being drawn from a sheath very carefully so as to be as quiet as possible, and knew Gilles was watching too. Scarlet let go of her arm and drew her own sword, and Misora drew out her pactio card. She was debating whether or not the gryphons would attack en masse the instant she spoke the command word when Sarah sat up abruptly, startling the lead gryphon, which froze in place, one paw in the air. It hissed and the other gryphons moved to attack. What happened next, Misora reflected later, would have made an amazing story, if anyone would have believed it.

In the next instant, Sir Robert had leaped from his bed and beheaded the gryphon nearest to him, Ruden had grabbed one of the smaller gryphons by its hindquarters, muttering an enhancement spell, and whipped it backward so fast its spine snapped, and Sarah had jumped to her feet with her nightshirt flying around her as pink energy exploded out from her in a powerful shockwave and she screamed out the words "Gurenken, multi strike ultimate destruction!" and the whole scene seemingly exploded in an enormous blast of pink power. Misora was treated in that brief flash of pink light to a sight she had never expected to see: Scarlet Sorvino, self proclaimed 'Scarlet Rose of Italy', always calm, cool, and collected, staring in unrestrained shock, her jaw dropped wide open and eyes comically huge as she gaped at the girl who had thus far shown no combat ability beyond simple, unenhanced, hand-to-hand barefisted fighting, punching one of the infamous and ridiculously rare so-called 'King' gryphons so hard its ribcage was crushed from the impact, blasting its limp body back out into the darkness outside the ring of firelight.

* * *

The sunrise revealed a scene of bloody carnage on their former campsite, and Misora couldn't help but grin.

"What's with that disgusting smile?"

"Heh."

Sarah sat there, pouting as she ate her flame broiled gryphon steak. "Look, if you want to say something, say it! I'm tired of you lookin at me like that." Bite. Chew chew chew. Swallow. Glare.

Misora grinned even wider. "I _knew_ it! I _knew_ there was something special about you! You got separated from your father, yeah right! What are you, a runaway? A member of some royal family?" It was well known that the royal families of Mundus Magicus had gotten their status because they possessed singularly rare powers and abilities.

Sarah just gave her an incredulous look. "Member of a royal family? Do I _look_ like a princess to you?"

Misora cocked an eyebrow. "You might be surprised, I've known a few in my time, and none of 'em have been like they are in storybooks, y'know." It was Scarlet's turn to give Misora a curious look then. Misora glanced over at her and grinned, and Scarlet looked away, no doubt ashamed that she had shown so much lack of composure over the past several hours. She decided to change the subject. "You know, I've never had gryphon before, but it's really pretty good. A little tough, but a lot better than I expected, anyway."

The others nodded their agreement, and for a time there were no sounds but those of a group of people eating breakfast.

"The riding lizards ran off last night," Gilles said conversationally after a moment.

"Mm," Misora replied.

"Three of them were killed where they were tied," he continued.

"...mm," Misora replied, significantly less peppy this time. Ruden came over the ridge at that moment, leading two riding lizards by ropes he had tied around their necks. Misora swallowed the particularly tough piece of gryphon meat she had been chewing on for the past minute or so, nearly choking in the process, and called out to the man. "Any sign of the others?"

Ruden got himself a cup of coffee and a gryphon steak before he answered. "I saw three more dead out there. Gryphons," he said by way of explanation. "I found those two eating the fourth," he said, jerking his head to indicate the two he had brought back. "No clue where the other one went, but we can pretty safely assume it's dead."

"Ugh..." Well, there _was_ a good side to all this, Misora supposed. At least they hadn't left their supplies tied on the lizards. Then again... She glanced at the piles of supplies. Food, water, clothes, weapons, armor, the miscellaneous _stuff_ one accumulated while traveling...They had brought along three extra lizards to serve as pack animals, but they had had a lot of stuff packed on the riding lizards as well. In any case it was way too much for the two remaining lizards to carry, even making up packs for everyone to carry. Dammit, she didn't want to have to leave anything behind that might help anyone follow their trail...

She sighed. "Well, let's go through the supplies and see what we can afford to leave behind."

Sarah groaned. "You mean we're gonna have to walk?"

"'fraid so," Misora said. "Come on, I want to be gone by ten."

* * *

_**Author's Notes: ** And now we get to catch up a little on Misora and Fate in the magic world. This arc should be pretty short, and then we'll go back to Mahora, the aftermath of the vampire arc, and the preparations for the upcoming festival. But anyway, we now have a name for Fate's boss, first mentioned waaay back in the second prologue chapter, I believe. Hmm...I'm sure I saw someone else mention it not too long ago... And speaking of names I've heard before, Sarah McDougal? But in any case, here are some quick profiles on Misora's group._

* * *

Kasuga Misora - The White Rabbit

Born - 4/4/1988

Height -5'4"

Likes - Cocone, playing tricks, helping people who really need it, taking down bad guys

Dislikes - losing people

Little Known Facts - Even after the horror she went through in Rome, and things she's gone through since reaching the magic world, she is still the same upbeat, excitable girl she's always been.

* * *

Scarlet Sorvino -"Scarlet Rose of Italy" (self proclaimed)

Born - 10/31/?

Height - 5'1"

Likes - Excitement, adventure, a place to come home to

Dislikes - People moping

Little Known Facts - Her normal appearance is incredibly attractive and she knows how to use this to her advantage, though she has so many other skills that she rarely has to use her charm to get something done.

* * *

Sarah McDougal - Pink Fireball

Born -12/4/1990

Height -5'

Likes - Daddy, mad science, people who can keep up with her pace, fighting

Dislikes - Archaeology (though she is starting to lighten up...)

Little Known Facts - She has an embarrassing Panda-shaped birthmark on her rear end. Also, she doesn't like to advertise just how good of a fighter she is either; too many people challenge her to fights when they find out she's been trained by a few highly skilled masters.

* * *

Ruden - Softhearted Defender

Born -1/2/1979

Height - 6'3"

Likes - Peace, pretty girls

Dislikes - Criminals, those who hurt others

Little Known Facts -Despite his formidable exterior, he's almost pathetically softhearted.

* * *

Ava Grace - Ex-royalty in Hiding

Born - 3/17/1984

Height -5'8"

Likes - Horses, warm food

Dislikes - Cruelty, stupid people, rude people

Little Known Facts - Ava was actually born on Earth, but her parents died in a magic incident and she was taken to live with relatives in Elfenhof, among whom are the remnants of one of the ancient royal families.

* * *

Sir Robert - The Dragonslayer

Born - 2/1/1957

Height - 5'10"

Likes - Life on the road

Dislikes -Life on the road

Little Known Facts - In his youth, he was known as as calm, compassionate man who loved all living things. That all ended when a dragon attacked his home town and killed his young wife, who was expecting their first child. He swore vengeance on all dragon-kind, and ultimately became one of the best dragon slayers in history. Now, however, his years of seeking revenge have taken their toll and he is left old and tired, having seen too much blood and death and with no home or family to return to. He is now seeking out the legendary King of Dragons to apologize for all he has done and accept the punishment for his atrocities.

* * *

Gilles - Keeper of Balance

Born - 9/24/1985

Height -5'11"

Likes - 'various things', a cat's purr, the shine of a well-polished blade, Misora

Dislikes - 'nothing in particular', idiots

Little Known Facts - He is quite unemotional about killing, and understands just how insane this seems to be. He doesn't like that he's unemotional about it, but can't help it.


	30. Ch 28 Misora in the Magic World, Pt 2

**Still Waters 3, Chapter 28, Misora in the Magic World, Part 2**

* * *

_Somewhere in the Great Cerberus Forest_

* * *

"Freaking heat..."

Misora used a rag to wipe the sweat from her forehead and continued plodding on along the narrow trail. The jungle was really starting to get to her, not to mention the complaining...

"It's so freaking _humid_ too..."

Sir Robert heaved an irritated sigh and loosened the collar of his shirt, but continued on in silence.

"And just _look _ at my hair! It's all tangled up and-"

"Would you like me to cut it short for you?" Gilles asked in an especially bland tone of voice, fingering the hilt of his sword.

Sarah glared at him, but stopped complaining. A moment later she had pulled her long hair back in a ponytail.

Misora glanced back at Sir Robert a few moments later, and was once again surprised to see that he was keeping up with the rest of them quite well in the humid jungle heat in spite of his comparative age and the various injuries he had sustained over the years. Ava was right behind him, looking rather exhausted as she trudged along, and Ruden brought up the rear, strong and steady as always and without a single word of complaint as he led the two pack lizards. Scarlet had yet again disappeared somewhere, scouting ahead. Misora had to admit the woman's methods had been a little disconcerting at first, especially with the way she would simply disappear among the trees and then reappear close by without a sound. She would simply be gone one moment and seated beside you at the campfire before you even realized she was there the next. It was downright disturbing, Misora thought.

Scarlet reappeared a moment later, yet again startling Misora out of her thoughts. She called a halt.

"What's it like ahead?" Misora asked as everyone gathered around.

Scarlet squatted down beside the trail and began to draw in the more lightly packed dirt at the edge of the path. "This trail takes a hard turn about half a mile ahead, then starts climbing up the side of the hill."

"How steep is it?" Gilles asked as he leaned in close to look at the map Scarlet had drawn.

"Shouldn't be too hard. It climbs up pretty high, but it's a gradual slope so it should be okay if we go single file. It's pretty narrow and there's a steep drop off on one side, so whoever leads the lizards will have to be extra careful."

Misora stood up and put her hands on her hips as she looked down at the map Scarlet had drawn. "Okay. Everyone, be sure to put some extra food and water in your packs. Take anything important off the lizards too; I don't want to have to climb three thousand feet down a mountainside and dig through lizard soup just to find the maps, alright? Alright. Come on, let's get ready."

Everyone nodded or voiced their agreement and got to work, and Gilles was left once again admiring Misora's leadership ability. It seemed everything she tried ended up coming out right in the end, even if it appeared to be an utter failure in the middle. He found himself admiring the form of her face, the quick way her eyes, brown as the deepest Tigerseye stone, darted to his and away, the quick smile that formed on her perfect lips; the curve of her nose, small and cute; his eyes traveled down the front of her neck, paused at the base where a careful observer might see just a hint of her collarbones, so inviting and mysterious in the way the collar of her shirt hid them, the swell of her bosom under her clothing and the indentation in the small of her back, the way the whole area arched as her shirt pulled tight across her chest and lifted enough to expose perhaps two inches of pale flesh above the top of her traveling jeans as she lifted her arms up above her head and stretched; the soft curve of her rear end, hugged by the material-

"You know, if I didn't know any better I'd say you were about to jump her right here in front of all of us," Sarah said dryly in his ear. Gilles came back to reality with a jerk as he realized what he had been doing and shook his head in amusement, a crooked grin on his face. "Of course," Sarah said, "it might not be so bad. Maybe she'd like it, coming from you~" she said, teasing.

He shook his head in denial. "I doubt it." Back to business. And no more thoughts of Misora! He realized he had nearly begun to wax poetic in his head a moment earlier, and scowled at nothing in particular. "Come on, help me find my documents."

He shook his head to clear any lingering images of Misora and headed for the tree where Ruden had tied the lizards with Sarah trailing along absently; there were better things to do at the moment than stand around and dream of something he'd probably never have. As Misora's personal secretary, he was in charge of all the paperwork, most of which was currently stashed in a satchel buried somewhere in one of the large packs stowed away on the back of one of the big reptiles. He hated the stupid creatures and by all appearances they hated him as well, but with any luck they would make the small port town of North Side in another week, and be on on a boat halfway across the strait soon after and be shut of the disgusting creatures for good.

...not that he didn't want to explore every inch of her body and soul and let her do the same with him, a perfect love with trust and understanding- He stopped that evil thought in its tracks and bitterly cut off a dreamy sigh before it could escape, and began untying ropes.

That was fantasy and this was reality, he thought coldly as he began removing packs from the lizard. It moved as if to snap at his leg, and he booted it in the head. It hissed, but turned away and he got back to work. Stupid lizards. Stupid self, too. No use getting caught up in love like a kid again. That path always led to a dead end.

* * *

Fate looked down at the folder in his lap, frowning as he recalled the state of the bodies and what remained of the site of the ambush after it had been trampled over for a few days by well-meaning idiots. Without a doubt the slain ambassador's caravan had been attacked by humans or beastmen. Demons or youkai, the only other groups with enough of a presence in this particular part of the world, would have made more of a mess; they were simply too powerful, and human bodies were too fragile, not to mention the inevitable damage that would have occurred to the surrounding plants and trees. The state of the bodies utterly precluded the idea that wild animals might have attacked the party, and anything large enough to wipe out the group would have left little more than bits and pieces of shredded cloth anyway. In any case, the various cuts and stab wounds ruled out most wild animals anyway. Several of the victims had been found in pieces, scattered around odd craters in the ground, while some others had had their entrails forcibly ejected from their bodies, the latter of which meant that whoever had attacked the false ambassador's caravan had been unafraid of breaking the Ostia Convention. Probably a water mage, he thought; it was a common trick among those on the wrong side of the law. Water mages were often closely watched simply because they were one of the rare groups of people capable of such acts. Air mages could steal a person's breath away, but if one wanted to commit torture via magic without leaving any signs of said torture, a water mage was the way to go. It had gotten so bad at one point that for well over five hundred years every water mage had been forced to join a registry when their affinity was first discovered by their teachers and alert the local authorities whenever they entered a new area. Those laws had all been stricken from the books well over a century ago, however. In any case, water mages certainly had their uses. He should know, after all; he had used them several times himself, even if he didn't actually trust them.

He looked out the window of the private chartered airship and watched the forest going by below for a moment; they would be coming up on Hecates soon. During his extended investigation of the site of the massacre, he had received word that a suspicious group had spent the night there in the town shortly after the ambassador's group was wiped out. With any luck he would be able to find out where they had gone. He didn't normally believe in following one's so-called 'gut instincts', but something about this case seemed familiar, and, well, to tell the truth...he had a strong hunch that he had run across the culprit's _style_ before. Certainly, they lost agents all the time; it was a dangerous world, after all. But this time...

The pilot's voice came on over the intercom and interrupted Fate's wandering thoughts. "We will be arriving at the town of Hecates shortly. Please fasten your seatbelts."

Fate pulled his seatbelt on and secured the documents in his bag. He wished once again that some of his ministra were here; it would greatly simplify things if Ocali had allowed them to come. He knew ensuring Kurt Godel's safety was of vital importance to the current stability of the magic world, and honestly, he didn't really trust anyone else to protect the man. It was irritating, but he was on his own, here.

* * *

Fate stepped off the small airship onto the runway of the Hecates airport, a small setup that was little more than a runway, a dozen small landing pads, a single large landing pad, and a few buildings. He waited a moment for the attendant to hand over his luggage, then headed for the main building. First things first: speak with the manager of the airport and find out who to talk to to get information. He had a pretty good idea of who he would need to see; it was a fairly small town after all, a quick visit to the various inns and taverns that dotted the town would no doubt turn up a few clues. If not, a few threats would probably do it. It always did, after a finger or two. He opened the door and stepped inside.

* * *

Chisame waited until Fate had disappeared into the building before disembarking from her larger passenger airship into the oppressive heat of the outlaw city of Hecates, carefully diffusing the effect of her attention to keep it from focusing on him; he had very good instincts, after all. She let out a relieved breath and stood up to remove her bag from the overhead compartment, and stepped out into the aisle. She followed the flight attendant to the exit, one of only three people to disembark here at Hecates, and soon found herself standing on the asphalt outside. She nodded at the flight attendant, who smiled back and waved, and headed for the main building a short walk away, closely following the other two passengers who had gotten off here so as to draw less attention to herself.

Once through the big double doors, she darted into the first bathroom she came across and went inside. A quick look around the bathroom confirmed she was alone and there were no security cameras, so she propped the door shut with a mop and headed for the sinks. She sighed as she put her bag up on the edge of the sink and paused to look at herself in the mirror. She had had no idea _he_ would be here; Fate was yet another one she couldn't predict. It was a very dangerous game she was playing; Fate was somewhere in the building at that very moment, and she had no way of knowing where he was. Moreover, she was quite certain he would recognize her on sight and probably attack. Few who had known her six years ago wouldn't recognize her, after all; she looked the same now as she had at fourteen, and would never age another day no matter how much time passed. It only made sense, she knew; she wasn't a normal person anymore. She was living outside of time. Oh, if only any of the others knew just how old she really was...!

She shook her head to clear it, and began preparing what would be her disguise. First of all, cat ears. Gotta have cat ears. She set them aside and took out a tail next and gave it a quick inspection. It was of the highest quality of course; she wouldn't settle for anything less. The special magically created disguise glasses came next; they had cost her a pretty penny at the black market back in Zephyria...it was one of the best pairs she had ever seen, and that was saying a lot. Now...new clothes, of course. A cute skirt to aid in dealing with having a tail, a light top to help with the heat, and a cute~ light jacket and gloves for flavor; it was just a coincidence that the outfit resembled that special one time casual clothing costume the evil Rouland Rouge wore in that one gag episode of Mahou Shoujo Biblion halfway through the first season. Yep. Total coincidence. She quickly changed clothes and attached the cat ears and tail. A quick shot of magic activated them, syncing them with her emotions so they would behave in a realistic manner. She let her hair down from her usual ponytail and shook it out, then finally put on the glasses. When she looked back up in the mirror, she smiled absently. "Heh~" She had, once again, become a different person. Gone was Hasegawa Chisame, the serious minded girl who acted like an adult but looked fourteen; in her place was Dani Ellesane, half breed cat-girl from Zephyria, nyan~

"Heh..."

She still had it.

A half breed cat girl wasn't a bad choice at all, she reflected as she turned this way and that in the mirror to inspect her handiwork. Half breeds, the result of the union between a human and a beastman, were extremely common in this place; so much so that a pure blood human or a pure blood beastman was more rare and likely to attract the wrong kind of attention. A cute, innocent, somewhat ditzy half breed cat girl from the big city, however, could use her cuteness to open doors that would have otherwise been locked. And if one of those doors happened to open on a den of thieves, well...she could handle herself. She repacked her bag and threw what she didn't need into the garbage, took a moment to get into character, and slipped out of the bathroom. She stood outside in the mostly deserted main hall of the building for a moment, looking around as her newly-acquired cat ears and tail twitched, and spotted Fate going outside through the doors on the other end of the building. Good. Now, to find out where Misora had gone...

Chisame had tracked her from her point of divergence (Ariadne, far to the north), through forests and cities, across mountains and seas and deserts, all the way to the site of the caravan massacre and finally here to Hecates. The vital moment was fast approaching and Chisame was running far behind. She should have caught up to Misora by now, and probably already would have if she hadn't made the mistake of assuming the aggravating girl had gone to Sirenum instead of Zephyria. No matter how many times she had been through this, Misora never failed to surprise her. The girl was downright unpredictable; probabilities meant nothing when dealing with that lunatic, not even when compared to a sampling field of millions. She realized her stressful thoughts were starting to spill over onto her face and paused for a moment in front of a vending machine, pretending to look at the various snack foods available while actually studying her reflection in the glass. When she felt she had gotten herself well enough under control, she set her face in her best clueless Makie grin and headed for the exit, and the city of Hecates. Surely _someone_ here had seen the troublesome girl...

* * *

Alfred Pennywhistle, or, as he liked to call himself here in the small outlaw city of Hecates, Cult Godanger, had risen to the top of the Hecates crime scene by dint of hard work, perseverance, the sweat of his brow... and a huge dose of good luck combined with being in the right place at the right time. Initially seen as nothing but a scrawny rat and a lifelong loser, Cult, as he insisted he be called, had struggled for years to rise above what amounted to the rank of errand boy in what he liked to think of as the 'Hecatean Mafia'. It was only through worming his way into the boss's good graces that things had begun to look up, because at that point he was no longer seen as just an errand boy, he was the _boss's_ errand boy. It became common to see him skulking around with the boss's retinue when he toured the town to check up on his various businesses, and Cult learned a lot about leading a crime ring while playing this role; which, it turned out, didn't seem to be about politicking, thievery, protection rackets, gambling, and whacking the other guy before he whacked you, but rather seemed to be about getting a nice white suit, a bunch of guys to hang around looking tough and complimenting you, and money that seemed to fall out of the sky. Cult loved it. His luck played its part, however, when a rival gang finally showed up and combat erupted. The boss was stabbed in the chaos, Cult chased the stabber (more to get away from the scene of battle than to avenge his boss, to put it bluntly), and a couple corners later the stabber tripped and fell, accidentally cutting his throat with his own knife. Cult couldn't believe his luck, and took some time to roll around in the dirt and splash himself liberally with the stabber's blood to make it look as if he had killed the man himself after a long, dangerous fight. When the sounds of combat ended, he had stumbled out of the alley he had hidden in, holding the stabber's head by the hair in one hand. The survivors assumed certain things, and Cult was glad to let them have their pretty little lies; especially since the higher ups had all been killed in the fighting. Cult stepped up and, for the first time in his life, had people working under him. The first thing he had done after ensuring his new position as head of the Hecatean Mafia was to go out and buy a nice white suit.

That suit, now six years later, was more than a little worn, and was likely to be splashed with blood if he wasn't careful, he thought frantically as he schooled his face into an expression of pompous arrogance. "You are making a big mistake, Dorsey," he said to the bartender.

The big man with the small puff of black hair on the very top of his head just looked at him. "Get out of here, Alfred. I told you before and I'm telling you again: _I don't need your protection_. You can't do anything to this place the wrecking crew doesn't do every night," he said, referring to the rather well known destructive tendencies of the locals after a few hours of drinking.

"Don't call me Alfred," Cult growled through clenched teeth. "The name is _Cult._ Cult Godanger. And if you can't even get that right you don't have the right to run a bar!"

"It's a tavern," Dorsey said, cocking an eyebrow. "And if you and your boys don't leave now, we'll just have to _throw_ you out," he said as several large gentlemen stood up from their chairs and began casually drifting over toward the confrontation at the bar.

Cult looked around warily, doing his best to keep from showing any sign of flat out terror and put on a brave face in front of his men, at least a dozen of whom had accompanied him to the town's best bar. Why couldn't Dorsey just give it up like a good townsperson and give him money to not burn down the bar? He didn't understand it; it was like the big bartender didn't have any concept of reality. "If you think-"

"I think you should leave now, Alfred," Dorsey said, his tone beginning to show some irritation.

Cult surreptitiously swallowed the lump in his throat and decided to keep up a brave front. "The name is _Cult_! And if you think you can get away with this disrespect, well...we'll just have to see about that!" he said as he jammed his hand into his pocket. He had intended to go for his handkerchief to blow his nose, but suddenly everyone was holding knives, brass knuckles, clubs, and various other instruments of backalley brawls, and he froze in place and began to sweat. This situation had just gone from a blustery show of how important he was to a fight, a _real_ fight where people could be killed, and if anyone made a false move, if anyone so much as _sneezed_, the whole place would explode with violence.

* * *

It was into this tense situation that Chisame entered when she carelessly shoved the door open with all the youthful exuberance of Dani Ellesane, half breed cat girl from Zephyria, nyan~, smacking one of the more high strung members of Cult's gang in the back.

The young man, new to the gang life and barely halfway through his teens, had been terrified enough just walking with the guys down to the tavern for this; he had nearly wet his pants when he saw the boss reach for what he was sure was a knife, and with the tension in the air thick enough to choke on, the sudden bang of the door sounded to him like nothing short of a gunshot, and the doorknob hitting him square in the back could have been nothing but the bullet that would no doubt end his life.

He cried out and fainted, and the tension in the room exploded.

Chisame's eyes widened, but she had no time to waste being surprised as one of the guys, attempting to avenge his (supposedly) dead colleague, swung a knife at her. It was a wide, clumsy attack, and Chisame, with the appearance of a ditzy half breed cat girl from the big city, caught his arm coming in and used his momentum to flip him through the doorway and out into the street outside, ripping the doors from their hinges as he went. Chaos broke out and the two groups were suddenly fighting in earnest, and another member of Cult's gang came at her with a roar, trying to grab her up in a bear hug. She ducked, kicked him in the knee so hard he screamed, and caught his chin with her knee coming up hard as he fell. She hissed at the sudden pain in her knee, but that man wouldn't be getting up any time soon. Two more came at her so she grabbed up a broken chair leg and struck the first man hard on the bridge of the nose, showering him with blood as he stumbled back with a cry. She whipped over to hit the second man on the wrist, causing him to cry out as well as he dropped his knife, then whacked him good in the nose. He let out a wail and stumbled back, grabbing at his nose as pain exploded in his face, and Chisame went after him and struck him in the throat. She ducked a blow from another man, struck him in the groin with her club, and drove her elbow into another man's stomach as he came rushing in, a hard, fast blow that doubled him over, driving the air from his lungs. He was much taller than she was, so she ducked, grabbed his head and flipped him over onto the man whose groin had so recently been introduce to her makeshift club. Someone grabbed her from behind in a bearhug and she lost her grip on her weapon, so she slammed the back of her head into his face and he dropped her, cursing as he clutched at his crushed nose. She turned and, as she did, swung her fist in a powerful sledgehammer blow to the ear that knocked him down, screaming and clutching at the side of his head. Someone moved behind her and she whirled yet again, her leg already flying up to strike at the head of the man in the thirty-years-out-of-date white suit.

* * *

Cult Godanger, trying to sneak past the girl to the open doorway, got a brief glimpse of the girl's panties as she spun (pink, with little white flowers), and then her foot connected with his head and everything went black.

* * *

Chisame stood there with her fists up, ready for the next one to come at her, but the fight seemed to be over and the other men warily standing around in the bar seemed content to stay far out of her range for the moment. Finally, Dorsey the bartender grinned and started to laugh. "Ha! That was the best thing I've seen in _months_! You really showed that brat how it's done!"

"So..." Chisame said warily. This could still go either way and as much as she was good at it, she didn't much like breaking people's faces. It tended to get blood all over her clothes. "What now?"

Dorsey shook his head. "Don't worry, we won't hurt you," he said, his amusement at what he had just witnessed coming through in his tone. "Or maybe, judging by what I just saw, you won't have to hurt _us. _Ha, half of Alfred's gang taken out by a little girl! Why, I haven't seen anything like that since Nagi Springfield came through twenty-something years ago! I haven't seen anyone that good in a _long_ time; you fought like a thirty-year veteran!" Dorsey said as his men began to round up the losers.

Chisame moved aside to allow the other guys in the bar to throw the groaning gang members out into the street. Of course she looked like a veteran when fighting; she had long ago decided to learn the basics of hand to hand combat, and had picked up more than a few tricks as the years rolled by. Of course, that was what, at least a hundred thousand cycles ago? Maybe more...it was no wonder she could take care of herself. But still, she had to at least attempt to keep up appearances... "Nagi Springfield, huh?" she asked, completely dropping the already-ruined ditzy catgirl act. She walked over to the bar and laid out a hundred drachmas. "Sorry about the doors."

Dorsey looked down at the money, then up at Chisame, and pushed it back to her. "Trust me, it was worth it just to see the look on Alfred's face when he realized you beat his best man in two hits. The guy's an idiot, and he's had this coming for a long time." Chisame nodded noncommittally, as if she hadn't known that particular unimportant fact long before stepping foot into the tavern today.

Chisame leaned on the bar and watched as the men from the bar paraded the beaten up gang around out in the street. Two of them threw the man in the white suit into a pile of lizard dung, laughing uproariously the whole time.

"So," she said when it finally seemed the two of them were alone. "I'm looking for someone, a friend of mine who really needs my help."

Dorsey's expression was carefully neutral. "Oh?"

Chisame passed the man a picture of Misora. She knew immediately from the suddenly wary expression on his face that Misora had indeed been there. "Don't worry, I'm not out to hurt her. I'm just trying to warn her about a trap she's going to walk into."

"A trap, you say?" he replied carefully.

Chisame sighed and handed over another picture. "Maybe this one will help?" she asked. He took the new picture and gave it a curious look, then glanced up at Chisame.

"That certainly looks like her, but what does this prove?"

Chisame took off the disguise glasses, put on her real ones, and pulled her hair back in one hand to simulate a pony tail, making her look almost exactly like the image of her in the photo Dorsey was holding. It was an old photo, one that Kazumi had taken a long time ago before they had all met Negi. In it, a much younger Misora had thrown an arm around an irritated Chisame's neck as she flashed a V sign at the camera. He looked up at her cat ears pointedly.

"They're fake," Chisame said by way of explanation. He gave her a long, hard look, and finally sighed.

"She went south, toward Granicus," Dorsey said quietly after a moment. "She's a good girl, I don't want her getting hurt. Hurry and warn her," he said. "If you need a riding lizard, I have two of the fastest around in the stable out on the edge of town, just tell the handler I sent you. Good luck."

* * *

Cult Godanger stood leaning against the wall in a narrow, deserted alley some time later, exhausted and weeping bitterly in frustration over his humiliating defeat. A defeat, everyone would know within hours if they didn't already, by a _little girl_. And his suit was absolutely ruined...! There was no way those stains were ever coming out! It was all that idiot Dorsey's fault! Why couldn't he just give up and pay like everyone else? Stupid Dorsey, stupid cat girl, stupid...stupid...bar...people! "Graah...!" He pounded the brick wall beside him with his fist a few times, but quickly stopped. That brick wall was _hard_.

He took off the jacket portion of the suit, looking at the brown stains in disgust, and gave it a good shake, accomplishing nothing but to pelt himself with small chunks of now-dry lizard dung. He ran his fingers through his greasy hair to remove anything that might have gotten stuck there, and wiped some mud (he desperately, desperately hoped it was only mud) from the side of his face. This was just too much...! He carefully folded his suit jacket in half inside out to hide the stains and draped it over his arm as if he had simply decided to go for a nice midday walk. He couldn't do much about the gigantic bruise on the side of his face where the stupid cat girl had kicked him, not to mention his lizard-dropping-stained pants or sweaty, dirty hair, but maybe if he acted as if these signs of his most recent failure weren't really there, nobody would notice...? He closed his eyes and took a deep breath to compose himself, nodded in appreciation of his mastery of self control, and put an expression on his face that he thought said something along the lines of 'I'm a reasonable man, but don't bother me or I'll kill you.' He was utterly unaware that for most other people, that expression said something more along the lines of 'Hey look at me! I'm constipated!'

He nodded again and set out into the street and straight into a white haired young man, who staggered a step or two to the side. Cult was taken so off guard by the young man's sudden appearance that as he tried to regain his balance, his left foot hooked on his right ankle and he flailed his arms in a desperate bid to stay upright for one long, long moment before smacking hard into the ground for the third time that day. He was up again in a heartbeat, looking around to see if anyone had been watching, but much to his horror the street was packed and it seemed everyone was looking at _him. _He gulped nervously at the sudden pressure of a hundred pairs of eyes looking at him until his own eyes fell on the white haired young man, who gave him a rather uninterested look.

"Hey! Hey you! You can't just bump into someone in the street like that! I could've been hurt! Watch where you're going!"

Fate gave him a cold, level look. "I apologize. Excuse me." And with that, he turned to go.

Cult's thoughts went red. How dare he...how dare he...! "Why you little...!" He darted toward the white haired stranger and grabbed his shoulder. The young man stopped, looked down at his hand, up at his face, then back down at his hand, then reached up and did _something_, Cult couldn't see what it was through the sudden burst of agony that rocketed through his body, and then Cult was getting dragged back into the alley, crying and whimpering like a kicked puppy.

* * *

Chisame rode into Granicus in the morning two days later, tired and annoyed at the long hot ride there, and wasted half a day searching for anyone who had seen Misora or the group she was apparently traveling with. She cursed her idiocy for thinking even for a moment that Misora might have followed her own plans for more than a day or two, and set about getting supplies ready for the trip back. With her people skills, not to mention the abilities at her command, money was no problem, and since she was in a hurry she didn't bother with haggling over the ridiculous prices as local custom demanded, and was actually a little amused to see the offended looks on some of the shopkeepers' faces at her refusal to waste time arguing about a few drachma in spite of the ridiculous profits they were getting. She gave the riding lizard to a man Dorsey had told her about and instead bought an old rugged looking motorcycle imported from Earth and retrofitted with a simple magi-engine. She tied her supplies to the back and set out, ignoring the seller's warnings about how dangerous it was to ride something so noisy so close to the Great Cerberus Forest. She _knew_ how dangerous it was, she had done it untold times before. Only an idiot rode something that loud in that place. An idiot or someone who was capable of dealing with the dangers, anyway. The only thing that was bothering her at this point was the location of Fate. Though she was confident in her disguise, she had still been very careful, keeping an eye out for him, just in case. Still...she hadn't seen him even once since the two of them arrived in Hecates; he could be _anywhere__. _

* * *

Many hours later, after making great time on the motorcycle, she left the road to get to a spot she had used many times before to camp for the night. It was quite well hidden and hard to find, and appeared to be rarely used in spite of its ideal location between Granicus and Hecates. It was a fair bit from the road and could be hard to find in the evening like this, but—she paused as she came upon the gnawed and broken bones of some large creature. She cast a simple light spell to get a better look, but there was little she could tell from the cracked and chewed bones. Something had spent a lot of time eating away at it, whatever it was; in any case, the bones still looked fairly new. Probably a week or two old at most, maybe three at the outside. She canceled the light spell and walked the motorcycle along, careful to be as quiet as she could. If something big enough to kill whatever that dead thing had been was lurking around...well, she didn't feel like getting dismembered tonight, that was for sure. Soon, she came upon another skeleton, this one more complete, and finally realized what the other one had been. They were gryphons. Something here had killed two gryphons and lived long enough to eat them after they were dead. Gryphons were _mean_, with a reputation not unlike those of wild boars back on Earth. It took a lot for another animal to kill just one, nevermind two. She continued on and soon stumbled across a couple more skeletons, but no sign of any other living thing.

Soon she arrived at the ruins, found them as deserted as she always had every other time she'd been there, and began to set up camp. Certain things around the site -the remains of a campfire, a pile of firewood sheltered from the weather behind one of the ruined walls, buried refuse that had been dug up by some small animal- indicated that someone had been here recently, maybe around the same time the gryphons had all been killed. Well, they weren't here now, so...

She started a small campfire and removed a small frying pan from her pack. Hopefully there weren't any gryphons around; she didn't want to let her dinner burn while fighting them off.

* * *

Fate sat comfortably in the driver's seat of the jeep he had rented back in Hecates. He had been warned against using one out here on the grounds that the noise attracted wild animals, but he had insisted on renting it in spite of the man's dire warnings. He didn't care, he needed to make up for lost time; he had already wasted a day and a half in Hecates chasing down leads from that idiot in the white suit, and he was in a hurry.

Besides, there was nothing out here big enough to worry Fate.

A band of demons or a True Dragon, vastly superior to the low dragons that populated this world, might have given him pause, but the likelihood of finding something like that was almost nil. He drove on in the fading light, thinking about the information he had received back in Hecates. Judging from one of the descriptions the man had given, he was quite sure of the identity of the leader of the group that had wiped out the ambassador's caravan.

Kasuga Misora, a name he knew well. The first time he had heard the name, it had been through his research on his rival, Negi Springfield. One among thirty other students in Negi's class, she had seemed unimportant, and he had dismissed her, perhaps out of hand. But now...an agent of the Church, wearer of the incredibly highly-ranked magical artifact The Seven League Boots via pactio card...she had even managed to unlock their most complete form on her own. Sent by the Church to Mundus Magicus for...what purpose? To foil Ocali's plans? It certainly _seemed_ so, judging by how many of his boss's people she had stopped. But there _must_ be more to it than just that, he simply couldn't believe that her purpose here was so simple. Not that her reasons really mattered at this point. She had foiled his boss's plans, and would have to be removed. Or, failing that, captured.

He was so intent on his thoughts that he almost didn't see the big dark creature scurry across the road until it was right in front of him. He instinctively slammed the brakes but the wheels locked up and slid in the loose sand at the edge of the road, and the jeep went sideways. He hit the throttle and jerked the wheel in an attempt to regain control; one of the wheels caught traction and jeep swung around hard, hit a large rock half buried in the sand at the road's edge, and spilled over into a ravine. There was nothing he could do but hold on and ride it out hoping that the jeep didn't go into a tumble, and by some miracle it didn't; it simply slid down the sandy slope and came to rest at the bottom of the ravine, followed by a massive avalanche of sand. He unhooked his seatbelt and scrambled out between the bars of the jeep's rollcage and ran a short distance up the opposite slope. When the sand stopped coming down, the jeep was buried except for the right rear corner and most of the wheel. With all that sand, the motor would without a doubt be ruined, so he abandoned the vehicle without another thought and set off up the side of the ravine.

* * *

Thirty minutes later, tired and annoyed at his foolish mistake, Fate was once again up on the roadway, trudging south toward Granicus while trying to keep an eye out for whatever it was that had run in front of him. It had been big, whatever it was. The sun had completely set and it was a dark, almost starless night. Clouds had begun to drift in as well, blocking most of the stars from view.

It was after almost an hour of trudging through soft sand later that he first spotted the campfire, flickering in the distance, and a thought began to form. Perhaps he could convince the campfire-builder to let him stay until morning? _He_ didn't have to worry about serial killers or crazy people, and whoever it was could trust him not to kill them them in their sleep, even if they didn't know it. Not unless they gave him a very compelling reason, anyway. He continued on.

* * *

Chisame's tail flicked back and forth in anticipation as the cheap lizard steak sizzled. Almost done, aaaaalmost done... She was so focused on it that she didn't notice anyone had approached until they called out.

"Hello, the fire!"

Chisame jerked and leaped back out of the ring of firelight in a single frenzied bound, freezing in place the moment she was out of sight. She very slowly and quietly moved away from where she had left the fire and circled halfway around away from the source of the voice before she stopped.

"Do I have the phrase incorrect?" the stranger said in an alarmingly familiar voice.

Chisame began to sweat. That was Fate's voice. Without a doubt, it was Fate. She could handle nonmagical thugs in a bar, but Fate? Someone so wrapped up in prophecy that he couldn't move more than ten feet without fulfilling one? And with the limitations on her powers with people like that... She thought quickly. If she didn't handle this just right, it could go very bad very fast. Was her disguise enough? The cat ears and tail? The magic disguise glasses? It was a high quality pair, sure...but would it be enough to fool Fate from a few feet away? Time was rapidly running out. If she waited much longer he would know something was up and would be on his guard even more than he usually was. 'Come on Chisame, calm down. Remember your role. You're not Hasegawa Chisame, savior of the multiverse, you're Dani Ellesane, half breed cat girl from Zephyria, nyan~ Perk up!'

She took a deep breath to calm herself, set her face in the same pleasantly clueless and curious expression Makie was such a master of, and stepped out into the ring of firelight. "U-um, who's there?" she asked, consciously setting her voice at a higher pitch.

"A traveler. I wrecked my jeep on the way to Granicus. May I enter your camp?" Fate asked from the darkness.

Chisame's tail twitched back and forth wildly, betraying her nervousness. "U-um, you wrecked your jeep, nyan? Th-that's bad! What about the wild animals?" she asked, peering out into the darkness. She could _just _make out his form.

"Don't worry about that; it's not a problem for me," he replied. "May I come in?"

Chisame's tail lashed wildly, but she knew there was nothing she could do but allow him into her camp. Anything else would arouse his suspicion, and that could have dire effects on her plans. "Y...yes!"

Fate stepped into the ring of firelight and looked at her for a long moment. Chisame's tail began to twitch even faster. "Wh-what?" she asked.

"Do I know...no, never mind," he said, cutting himself off as he glanced down at the campfire and the rig set up above it to hold the frying pan. "Your dinner is burning."

Chisame just looked at him, shocked into stillness at the sheer insanity of the situation. Her mouth opened and closed as she looked from him to her frying pan and back, and finally recalled who she was supposed to be. "A...ahh! My lizard steak!" she squealed as she darted over to the fire and picked up the frying pan by the handle. She yelped upon touching the unexpectedly hot handle and dropped the frying pan, knocking over the metal frying pan rig above the fire, and dropped the pan in by accident. She tried to reach in and grab the handle to pull it out and salvage what was left of her meal, but Fate beat her to it, reaching in and pulling the pan out in a single swift movement. She was once again stunned into awkward stillness, looking back and forth between his slightly burned hand and her all-but-ruined dinner, and feeling like the world had turned upside down. 'So, this must be how he got all those girls to follow him,' she thought, the thought bizarrely amusing. Truly, a fitting rival for Negi. Fate...he was who he was, and he was yet another she could not predict. Still, she had a role to play here.

"Ah! Your hand!" she cried out, hoping he would take her fake tail's lashing as something innocent as she fussed over him. She turned around to get her first aid kit from her pack and, still not used to having a tail, accidentally whacked him in the face with it. 'Well, if nothing else I'm definitely playing the part of a ditzy cat girl pretty well,' she thought drily as her face heated up in embarrassment. To the cat beastmen, touching others with your tail was a very...ah...intimate act. This was rapidly turning into a disaster.

In the end, Fate's hand was wrapped up and they split the slightly charred lizard steak between them, Chisame making extra sure to throw in a few contented 'nya~'s whenever she felt it was appropriate. They talked about shallow things for a while –the condition of the road, the likelihood of rain, the local wildlife- until Chisame felt like she might scream if it went on any longer.

"I'm going to bed now~ Fate, won't you take first watch?" she asked cutely, beaming at him with her best Makie smile.

Fate was looking at her, and he was not smiling.

Chisame realized what she had just said, and her fake smile started to slip. She had dealt with him many times before, and thought she knew him pretty well by this point. The jig was up.

"I didn't tell you my name," Fate said, his tone suddenly serious.

"I...must have heard it somewhere?" she tried, knowing he saw through the words even as she spoke them.

"Who are you? Do I know you?" Fate demanded as he stood up. Chisame stood up as well, her ears and tail suddenly still for the first time since he had arrived.

"Maybe," Chisame replied, her tone dangerous. Now that the waiting and tension of trying not to be found out was over, she was actually a little relieved. She just hoped she could manage to escape from him in time. If she didn't, Misora would end up...

Fate moved to step around the fire toward her, but Chisame circled away. "Look, why don't we just go our separate ways and pretend we never saw each other?" she asked, the cat girl facade completely gone.

"I am afraid I can't do that. You see, I'm hunting some criminals," Fate said, darting around the fire. Chisame was prepared for it however, and moved even more quickly, disappearing back into the shadows.

She moved silently, eyeing her surroundings for anything she could use to distract him. She had had almost infinite time to sharpen her many skills, but her magic power was far too low for any prolonged face off against Fate. Such things often came down to a test a power at some point, a test she would undoubtedly fail, and she didn't particularly feel like getting blasted into atoms right now. It would ruin her plans. And this situation...it had never come up before. Not even once. Such was the danger of dealing with someone she couldn't predict, Chisame thought bitterly. She had screwed up. She carefully and quietly moved around close to the mountainside against which the ruins had been built so long ago, and noticed that Fate was no longer standing in the firelight.

Chisame thought quickly, frantically. Anything she could cast would make noise and light, giving up her position. Fate would take advantage of such a thing immediately, probably punching her out before she got two words out. Maybe...an anti magic field? Would that be more than her limitations would allow? She didn't think so, but she didn't know for sure. It was a risk. But if she was going to be taking risks, maybe one of those anti-movement fields that Atlantean magic was so good for? She supposed that technically she _could_ have stumbled upon it in the library at Mahora at some point; they did have a few ancient, hidden books on the style, after all. She would have to risk it. She reached down and very carefully picked up a handful of small stones that had fallen from the mountainside above.

There was movement off to her left.

Working quickly, Chisame rubbed the stones between her hands and brought them up to her face to breathe power into them, charging them for the spell. The spell she was thinking of was a simple one, requiring only a triangle. The containment field it generated would be quite small, so she would have to be careful. She knelt down and placed the first of the stones, and something flew past her head, missing it by perhaps two inches. She cursed aloud and darted off to the side, hardly daring to slow down long enough to place the second stone.

She started off toward where the third stone had to be placed, but Fate was _right in front of her_ and she ducked and rolled under his strike. She chopped the edge of her hand at the back of his knee, surprisingly landed the hit, and scrambled away on hands on knees while he got back up. She placed the third stone and leaped back, out of breath and thinking frantically.

"You landed a hit. I am impressed," he said. He disappeared and Chisame barely managed to get out of the way before his fist roared through the space where she had been an instant before.

'That strike would have killed any ordinary person; he's serious now,' Chisame thought. Now, to lure him into position... She rolled to the side to avoid the next attack and took off running. Just as she thought, Fate was no idiot; he chased after her, but took a looping route out to the side rather than following immediately behind her... Chisame smirked.

'Just as planned.'

She threw her hand up. "Activate!"

The magic circle flashed to life and Fate froze in place mid-step, cut off from reality and trapped in the triangular field it generated. Chisame hurriedly gathered her things and tied them to the back of her motorcycle. That containment field wouldn't hold Fate for long...! She drove it out to the road and parked it, then used instant movement (one of the first tricks she had learned after getting her powers under control) to get back to the camp site. She glanced over at the magic circle, casually noted that it was rapidly decaying, and eyed the mountainside again. It was an ancient mountain, rocked by earthquakes for thousands of years, and without a doubt the mountain face she was looking at would collapse in another two or three hundred years all on its own. Perhaps she could speed it along...? She glanced back at where Fate was trapped in the circle and could already see slow movements from him. The circle was _definitely _breaking down. 'Okay then, I've got one shot. Let's make it count...'

Magic arrows, maybe? It would have to be a kind that could eat through stone fast enough to cause the mountainside to collapse...explosive, then? Maybe lightning? Or maybe a lightning lance...but those spells used so much magic; if she cast a lightning lance big enough to do what she was hoping, it would leave her drained for _days_. She glanced at Fate and saw he was actually looking at her.

No more time. She would just have to risk it.

"_Come forth from the void, oh thunder, and strike through my enemy! Lance of Lightning!_" From the same school as the Axe of Lightning that Negi favored, the Lightning Lance was a piercing attack rather than a chopping attack like the Axe. It was one of the stronger and more useful spells in Chisame's considerable arsenal, one she had picked up from the teacher himself a long time before. She had found many uses for it, though she had never tried to bring down a mountainside with it before. Still...

The magic power of the lance ate away at the rock, and she poured more power into it, making it bigger, stronger, more unstable. The rock at the foot of the mountainside heated, cracked, and broke off in large chunks, and still she kept it up; the heat and the drain from holding the spell left her drenched in sweat, but still she continued. When the strain became unbearable, she screamed out the final part of the spell, the part she had created herself. She didn't know if the lance had gone deep enough, but she would have to chance it. She poured everything she had left into it, holding back only enough power to keep from fainting, and drove the already powerful spell out of control.

"_Explode!_"

* * *

Chisame was looking up at the hazy blueish-white sky for perhaps ten minutes before she recalled what she had been doing. Wasn't it supposed to be night time...?

_Fate_..._!_

She jolted to her feet and staggered, almost losing her balance until she fell to rest against a boulder that most definitely had not been there when she arrived yesterday. She looked up at the mountain and rubbed her eyes.

She had succeeded.

It looked as if something had scooped out a massive chunk of earth and rock from the side of the mountain, leaving it in a massive spray of broken stone on the ground beside it. Her campsite was hidden under several hundred feet of rubble, there was no sign of Fate, and she was standing almost five hundred feet from where she had been when she overloaded the spell.

She staggered away from the boulder toward the road, feeling as if she had been hit by a bus. She had no delusions about Fate. He was not dead. It would take more than that to kill him, and she didn't want to be anywhere nearby when he finally escaped from his temporary tomb under the remains of the mountain. Besides, he was an earth mage, he could deal with something like this with relative ease; it would just take him a while. She staggered up to where she had left the motorcycle and climbed on. It took her a moment to get her bearings, but she was soon off. She had a pretty good idea of where Misora might have gone; from what she had observed, the other girl often went in a particular direction when taking this road. There was nothing to the west but a massive desert, followed by a huge stretch of ocean. There was no doubt in Chisame's mind that Misora had instead gone east, out into the Cerberus Forest. There were many dangers in that forest; Chisame hoped the idiot wouldn't get herself killed before she could find her...

* * *

"So...we're probably going to die, aren't we?" Sarah asked nervously as she eyed the cloaked and masked people surrounding them on all sides. One moment, they had all been walking along the otherwise empty path in the dark, humid forest, all alone, and the next moment these new guys had appeared out of nowhere all around them.

"...looks that way," Scarlet said dryly.

"Well who knows, maybe they just want to escort us through the forest...?" Misora said hopefully as her eyes flicked from one to the next. Gilles just gave her a disbelieving look and sighed.

"Do these guys look like guides to you?" he asked irritably, using his body to shield her.

Misora eyed the strangers, their various pointy-and-stabby-looking weapons, the glow of magic around those who seemed to be holding off on casting attack spells for some unknown reason...

"Er...no? So who are they, anyway?"

Gille's mouth twisted in distaste. "Elves."

* * *

_**Author's Notes**: Sorry for the late chapter; it seemed like everything conspired to keep me from finishing it, and then I got a mild case of writer's block right in the middle. Luckily a good night's sleep took care of that. Also, I had planned for this chapter to follow what happens to Misora's group next, but the chapter would have been at least twice as long, and I felt like this was a good stopping point anyway. Also, there shouldn't be any more week-long delays *crosses fingers for luck* _

_Ah, Cult Godanger, is that the most overblown villain name you've ever heard or what?  
_

_But in any case, careful reading will reveal a LOT of information about Chisame's current situation. I hope you enjoy this little foray into the magic world; this arc's got about three chapters left after all._

* * *

Dani Ellesane – Half Breed Cat Girl from Zephyria, nyan~

Born - 6/12/1993

Height - 5'3"

Likes – cu~ute clothes, yeah!

Dislikes – Bothersome people.

Little Known Facts – Is actually just a disguise Chisame created.


	31. Ch 29 Misora in the Magic World, Pt 3

**Still Waters 3, Chapter 29, Misora in the Magic World, Part 3**

* * *

_Somewhere in the Great Cerberus Forest_

* * *

"So then, so then Negi took the bra off his head, looked around, and said with the most adorable look on his face, 'I'm sorry, but can I please have my wand back?'" Misora said, barely managing to avoid bursting into laughter before she finished. The woman she was speaking to, a young elf woman called Trista, looked as if she wanted to be horrified at the scandalous story, but couldn't quite manage to hide her snickering. Scarlet looked rather amused as well.

Sarah rolled her eyes and glanced over at Ava, who was listening to Misora's dirty stories with rapt attention; the woman's cheeks had gone totally red, like a little kid. How old was she again? Twenty five? Ha! More like fifteen! She sighed and turned her attention back to Misora and the guard. She had heard about guys like this 'Negi' Misora was always talking about. An innocent kid accidentally building a harem while working as a teacher? Psh! Yeah right. How did that saying go? 'As innocent as a trap door spider'? Honestly, these people... She tried to reach up and rub her forehead, but her the way her hands were bound to a post stopped her. "Hey, uh...Trista, wasn't it? Is there any chance of getting my hands untied?"

The elf woman currently watching them immediately straightened up and put on the same face she had worn upon first entering the wide stone building that was their (hopefully) temporary prison. "I am sorry, but you must wait for the council of elders to make their decision."

Sarah rolled her eyes yet again, aggravated at the thought of her own welfare lying in the hands of some mysterious 'council of elders' she hadn't even seen yet, and tried to get as comfortable as she could leaning against the pole. The stupid thing stuck up from the floor maybe five feet, and her hands were bound by a short rope tied to a large metal ring driven into the top of it. As a result, she kept having to shake her arms to keep her blood flowing, and it was all very annoying. She glared over at Ava who, as the tallest of the three, was just the right height to rest her hands comfortably on top of the pole. And of course Misora had somehow managed to hop up and perch on top of her pole, and looked surprisingly comfortable up there. Scarlet, of course, seemed hardly discommoded by the situation; she retained her usual expression of mild amusement and had yet to show any signs of discomfort in spite of being the same size as Sarah. 'Gah, if only dad or Haruka was here...' "I'd even settle for Keitaro," she grumbled.

"Huh? Did you say something?" Misora asked, glancing over at her.

Sarah shook her head and again inspected the knots that held her bound to the pole. It was an unusual knot; she had never seen anything quite like it before. But any knot can be untied; and if not untied, it can be cut. She waited until the guard wasn't looking at her and ducked her head down close to her hands so she could grab one of her hairpins. The guard glanced over at her, but she hid the hairpin in the palm of her hand and grinned in a way that promised a slow and agonizing death should she make a stupid remark.

She waited until Misora started up another dirty story and had the guard's full attention, and, using her hand to hide what she was doing, began poking at the knots.

"It's useless, you know," the guard, Trista, said, interrupting Misora's story as she looked over at her. Sarah growled in frustration and began stabbing at the knots.

Scarlet let out a light laugh, and Sarah glared at her. "What's so funny?" she demanded.

Scarlet just shook her head, her damnable grin never slipping. "Enchanted rope."

Trista nodded, and even Ava looked a little amused.

Sarah accidentally fumbled the hairpin and slumped against the post for a moment, staring at the pin as it lay on the floor out of reach.

"Gah! This is so uncomfortable!"

Another elf appeared at the entrance and whispered something to Trista. She nodded and stepped aside, and half a dozen elves entered the room, pointing weapons that looked like a cross between a sword and a gun at the four of them as Trista untied them. They were lead outside, joined by the three male members of the group complete with their own retinue of guards, and herded through a series of massive, ancient, tree-lined plazas, for the first time getting a good look at their surroundings.

Sarah recognized the style of course; she had spent _years_ around people who had made this particular style of architecture and statuary their primary subject of research. She looked around as she walked, increasingly disturbed at what she was seeing. She paused in front of a particularly large and familiar looking turtle statue, glanced at the engraving on the low pedestal it sat upon, and out of long habit in helping with her dad's work committed the symbols to memory for later translation. One of the guards poked her with his weapon to hurry her up, so she shot him a dirty look and jogged to catch up with the others.

After another moment of walking, they came out into a wide, flat plaza paved with large cobblestones. The buildings all around the edge of the circular plaza gave it an oddly arena-like feel, and after a moment Sarah realized that they were being watched from the windows. She couldn't see much more than shadowy shapes, but there were definitely people watching them. She turned her attention from the buildings to the large turtle-shaped fountains, now dry, that dotted the plaza, and then on to the central raised dais in the very center, built around an enormous tree, bigger than any tree she had ever seen before.

* * *

Misora whistled as she spotted the tree. "Whoa, that's almost as big as the World Tree back home!" The elf guards looked at each other warily, but no one else spoke as they approached the central dais and the dozen or so aged figures standing at the foot of the tree.

When everyone was assembled before the elders, one of the elders, a tall, badly aged elf with half of one ear missing, gave a startled jerk as he looked from one face to the next. He took one of his fellow elders aside and whispered fervently to him. After a moment, they were joined by all but the youngest elder, who hesitated, looking from the prisoners to his fellow elders and back, then he too joined them. Words were exchanged, some loudly and in a language few others present could understand; it sounded something like a mix of gutteral noises and higher, clearer notes briefly sung in an undulating manner.

"Th...that's the ancient tongue..." Trista said, apparently not aware she had even spoken as she watched the elders. "Immune to any translation spell, it must be learned over many years of hard work... To even hear it is...is..." She seemed to become aware she was being watched and quickly shut her mouth, looking away in shame.

Misora cocked her head to the side as she watched; judging by the confused reactions of the guards, this behavior on the part of the elders was most unusual. For a long moment, no one seemed to know what to do, but then the impromptu meeting broke up and the elders resumed their places and the subdued murmuring from the onlookers that had broken out earlier stopped. The youngest elder, obviously quite old himself, stepped forward and looked at Misora.

"The council wishes to know your names" he said, looking from Misora to Ava to Gilles and on to Sarah and Scarlet and Sir Robert and Ruden. Startled sounds and murmuring from the guards and onlookers let Misora know this was not the usual protocol for this sort of situation.

Misora looked him in the eye, did her best to hide her startlement when he looked away as if he couldn't bear to face her, and gave the required information. "Kasuga Misora." The elders looked at each other meaningfully, and a few exchanged a few quick words, again in the so-called 'ancient tongue'. Misora glanced over at her companions and could tell they were all quite disturbed by the apparent strangeness of the situation; this was obviously behavior the elves themselves had never seen before in their elders.

When everyone had stated their names, their parents' names, and their places and times of birth, the elders again went into a huddle, the youngest one almost running to join them. Misora caught a word being repeated several times in a fascinated tone of voice, and every once in a while one of the elders would look back at her or one of the others with an almost fearful expression. She sighed and resigned herself to a long wait. Whatever was going on looked like it would take a while...

"Hey, uh...hey? Excuse me?" Misora finally said. The guards jumped, pointing their weapons at Misora, but one of the elders gave them such a scathing look that they backed down quickly, just as confused at the situation as Misora herself. Finally, the eldest of the elders, the tall one with half an ear, stepped up to the edge of the dais, looking down at Misora.

"Yes?" He seemed to be fascinated with her as his eyes took in everything about her from her clothing to the way her hair was cut.

"Um...is this going to take a while? Because we're all pretty hungry and these ropes are starting to chafe," she said, holding her hands up.

The elder just looked at her for a moment, obviously surprised, and turned to the guards. "Release them at once! Set our table, and provide places for these seven as well." Then he turned away and walked out of sight behind the tree, followed by the other elders. The guards hesitated for a moment, gobsmacked, so Trista took the initiative and untied the ropes binding Misora's wrists.

"You heard the Grand Elder, do it now!" she barked at the other guards. She turned to Misora as the guards jumped to it. "So...why did they call you the White Rabbit?" she asked.

Misora gave the elf woman a searching look. 'White Rabbit?' she thought curiously. She had heard that particular title a lot, this past year and a half, and still didn't know what was going on. "White rabbit?"

Trista nodded. "What they said doesn't really translate well, but it means something like 'The White Rabbit, Who Will Die And Live And Laugh In The Face Of The Destroyer', or something like that. Are you fatebound?"

Misora gave the elf girl an odd look. "Fatebound?"

Trista sighed. "It means bound by fate, obviously. Now come on, follow along. Are you fatebound? Are there prophecies about you? There must be, if you have a title like...well, like _that_," she said, referring to the rather ominous and lengthy description she had given a moment earlier.

Misora considered it, recalled the way that, after what had happened in Rome, everyone at the church had suddenly seemed to hold her in reverence...she had thought they were just impressed that she had managed to kill one of the Great Vampire Lords, but now that Trista had said it... "You know, I don't know. It could be. Back on Earth—ah, I mean Mundus Vetus—everyone treated me kinda weird..."

Trista nodded firmly. "They must have known, then. Do you have any idea what this 'white rabbit' nonsense is all about? And what about the others? They called that Gilles man 'The Keeper of Balance," she asked as the now fearful guards led the former prisoners toward the baths.

Misora thought about it for a long moment as they walked through the ruined city and finally stopped before a large domed building, but ultimately shook her head. Gilles? With a title like that? Ha! She could sort of see it, though... Heh, good old Gil. If anyone could keep balance among a group of lunatics, it was him. "No clue. But ah...what about our stuff? We had a lot of stuff that's real important to us. Books and maps and personal items and stuff," she said, thinking of her pactio card. She would give up all the rest if she could only get her pactio card back... She'd even give up the super special underwear from Eos, if that was what it took...!

Trista smiled and shook her head as she led the women into the women's side of the bathhouse. "Don't worry about it, it will be returned when the elders are through with you. But for now," she said as the group arrived at the changing room, "don't worry about it. Just get cleaned up; you'll be escorted to the elders when you're through here," she said.

* * *

Soon, Misora found herself seated in an enormous stone tub with the other three girls, looking at Ava from across the tub.

"So..." Sarah said as steam rose through the air.

Ava glanced up shyly, sitting deep in the water and trying to keep herself covered up as best she could, having never been in this situation before; out on the road one could at least maintain the illusion of privacy with a screen of bushes or bedding hung from a tree, but in here, so close together with nothing on... Misora eyed the woman with thoughts of mischief running through her mind. Scarlet simply sat with her arms crossed and her eyes shut across from Sarah.

"So what now?" Sarah asked. Scarlet opened one eye to look at her, then shut it again.

"K...kyaaaaa!" Ava screamed as Misora pounced her. "N-no...! Stop it! Get off, Misora!"

"Hahahahaha!" Misora laughed. "Come on, you didn't scrub enough! Let's get you properly clean, shall we~?" she said, tugging Ava up onto her lap, putting her arms around the woman and pinning her arms to her sides.

"Noooo...!"

"Hahaha! C'mon Sarah, Scarlet! Help me!"

Scarlet let out a light laugh and nodded toward Misora as she looked at Sarah. "Care to join her?"

Sarah smirked. "Heh..."

* * *

Gilles, Ruden, and Sir Robert sat quietly in the men's side, listening to Ava's panicky screams and squeaks and repeated cries of "No! Not there, not th-AAAhhh! Misora no! Kyaaah...! No...!" echoing through the building.

"...I wish they wouldn't tease Ava," Ruden said after a moment, his face so red Gilles was starting to wonder if he was about to faint from the heat or something. Sir Robert simply sat stoically in the water, his arms crossed and his eyes shut, spots of color on his cheeks. He gave a single sharp nod in agreement.

"Sarah! I _trusted_ you-kyaah!"

"Ah..." Gilles said. This was rapidly becoming awkward. Ava started squealing again, and Gilles sighed, trying not to imagine what Misora and the others were doing to the admittedly very attractive woman on the other side of the stone wall he currently had his back against. How thick was this wall, anyway? One foot? Two?

He was going to _kill_ Misora next time he saw her. No man should be forced to listen to this...!

* * *

When everyone had washed the stink of humid jungle travel from their bodies and clothed themselves in the simple garments the elves had given them to wear while their own clothes were being cleaned, Misora's group of seven was led to a large stone house with a thatch roof built on the edge of yet another plaza deep in the ruins, where they were seated and presented with a wide variety of dishes, few of which were recognizable to Misora.

After a few awkward moments while everyone looked at each other and waited for someone else to make the first move, Misora broke the ice with a "Pass me that bowl of...um...green...stuff, please; thanks!" With the initial tension broken, Sarah finally spoke up about something that had been bothering her ever since their blindfolds had been removed and they had been shoved into their temporary prison.

"So, about these ruins, can I ask you guys a question?" Several of the elders glanced up at her, then at each other, and finally the one with half an ear nodded.

"You may."

"Okay. So these turtle statues everywhere...did you know there are statues in the same style back on Earth? Mundus Vetus?" Several of the elders looked up at her. It was obvious they were curious, so she continued on. "My dad and a friend of mine did a lot of research on it. They say that the Turtle Civilization was an empire that existed thousands of years ago on the islands in the South Pacific, with the center somewhere around Molmol." One of the elders looked up sharply at that, but the one with half an ear held up a hand to silence him.

"Go on."

Sarah gave them a confused look, but continued on. "Well...anyway, the statues in the ruins of the capital are exactly like the ones here-"

"You have been to the capital on Mundus Vetus?" one of the elders said suddenly, leaping to his feet in his excitement, spoon held forgotten in his hand. The one with half an ear gave him a hard look, but he was too excited to notice. "Then...please, please tell me, you have seen ancient Todai?" Sarah nodded, and the elder plopped back down in his chair, smiling in relief for the first time since any of them had arrived. "It still exists...! Tell me, does the magic still work?"

Sarah nodded again, and suddenly grinned crookedly. "My dad and Haruka-my dad and mom got married there." The elder leaned back in his chair, looking up at the ceiling as he teared up.

"Then it is still working...! Oh thank heavens that demon didn't destroy it utterly...! If the medallion is still intact...!"

The half-eared elder sat up straight in his chair. "Elder Torren, please contain yourself; we have guests." Then he turned back to Sarah. "Tell me then, Sarah McDougal...who is this 'Haruka' you mentioned?"

"Well, she's a friend of my dad from a long time back, before he married my mom. My real mom, I mean," Sarah said, looking warily from one elder to the next. They were all focused directly on her, now, and the whole situation had become a little awkward. She shrunk down in her chair.

"Her name?" one of them prompted almost frantically, apparently hanging on her every word.

"Urashima Haruka...?" At the mention of the name Urashima, several of them jumped to their feet, and one fainted and fell face first into his bowl of...green...stuff.

The half eared elder sat back and shut his eyes, a satisfied look on his face as he crossed his arms and nodded. "So, the first stage of the prophecy has come to pass. The Urashima line has not died out, Taro shall return to retake the kingdom left to him."

"Keitaro."

"As long as the medallion is still in existence, there is a chance, and our long wait here will not have been in vain-"

"It's Keitaro."

"We must be prepared for Urashima Taro's return, but first he must be found and-"

Sarah banged her fist on the table to get the elders' attention. "I said it's _Kei_taro, not Taro," Sarah said loudly.

"Kei...taro..."

"Oh no..."

"Urashima Keitaro is not the one we are looking for," half-ear said firmly. "Is there no Urashima Taro among the family?" he demanded.

Sarah thought hard as she ran over the names of Keitaro and Haruka's family members. She had met most of them at one point or another, but she couldn't remember any guy named Taro...wait. Wait just a minute. An image came to her mind, a brief visit by Kanako several years ago; she had brought along an argumentative little girl about five years younger than Sarah herself. What had she called the girl? Taro, wasn't it? She had really looked up to Kanako and Keitaro.

"Yeah, there is..." she said hesitantly.

"Then he must truly be a great warrior, a true man amongst men!" one of the elders said, standing up and clenching his fist in anticipation of the amazing stories of manly fortitude that must inevitably follow. Several of the others nodded, equally fired up. The fellow seemed quite hot blooded.

"Er...Taro's a kid. A little girl. She'd be what, um...fourteen, fifteen by now...? What?" she asked, looking around at the elders. "Something wrong?"

Several of the elders had slumped down on the table, hiding their faces while others looked shocked or horrified. The half-eared one, however, was still looking at her firmly, though his face had gone a little pale.

"Tell me this: does she at least carry the medallion?"

Sarah thought hard. The Taro girl had definitely had a necklace of some kind; she hadn't wanted anyone else to touch it though, apparently it was some kind of keepsake from her mother. "Um...she had a necklace, yeah. It looked like it had a big coin attached to it."

"Circular?" half-ear asked. "About this size?" he said, holding his fingers perhaps two inches apart. "Thick, but of a light metal? A turtle on one face, concentric circles on the other?"

Sarah gave him an odd look, but nodded. "She wouldn't let me look at it, but yeah. That sounds right. Why, is something wrong?"

The elder sighed and shook his head, relief flooding through him. "No, as long as Urashima Taro returns to this place with the medallion, our long years here will have had a purpose, and our debt as a people will have been paid. The Urashima line is wrapped in oaths and prophecy, perhaps more so than any other, and Urashima Taro is the most important of them all, he...or shall I say _she_...will free us of our burden. It is enough that she is alive, and she has the medallion. She will come here of her own volition, in time. Our part is simply to maintain this place against the day of her coming, so she can claim her inheritance."

* * *

Misora had tried hard to follow the conversation but was more than a little confused, as she didn't recognize any of these names they were throwing around. The only Urashima Taro she knew of was the one in the old story who went to the undersea kingdom and came back three hundred years later on a turtle, or something like that; she thought there might have been something about a box somewhere in the story too, but couldn't really remember many of the details. But come on, Taro? What kind of a name was that for a girl, anyway? What kind of parents would do that to their own daughter? She was once again glad that she had had reasonable parents who gave her a decent name like Misora; she had never been so glad to have such a normal name as she was now. Taro! Wow...poor kid.

She glanced over at the others, and was surprised to see Ava following the back and forth between Sarah and the half-eared elder intently. Gilles seemed similarly interested, but she had a feeling his interest was purely curiosity; he had always been intrigued by prophecies, and to see one in the process of coming true must be very interesting for him. Ruden was utterly clueless, Sir Robert seemed to be focused on finding something among the exotic foods that he could actually stomach, and Scarlet was watching everyone at the table with an intensity Misora had rarely seen. She made a mental note to ask the woman about it later, and spooned another bite of what looked—and _tasted—_like grass stew into her mouth. She was just glad the bowl was small; that stuff was nasty. She finished the last bite a moment later and leaned back in her chair, hesitant to be the first to get up from the table. She didn't really know what to make of the situation, but was glad that the whole 'being prisoners' thing seemed to have mellowed out...for a while there, it had looked as if they might have to fight their way out. With any luck, they could borrow some sort of vehicle and be halfway to the coast by nightfall.

She listened absently as the elders questioned Sarah for the next half hour or so, idly pushed around the few remaining crumbs on her plate, and finally decided she just couldn't take it anymore and stood up, drawing the attention of several of the elders and a sharp look from Gilles, no doubt for being impolite. She ignored him. "Look," she began, "I would love to hang around here for a few days talking about old prophecies and things, but we have to go. We appreciate the food and everything, but if you could just show us the trail that leads to the coast, that'd be great."

Half-ear gave her a long look, but finally nodded and stood up. The other elders followed his lead and stood up as well, several of them looking sheepish as they began to realize how their behavior must have appeared. "I understand. However, it is too late to set out today; you must stay the night and leave in the morning. Trista and some of her guards will accompany you to the coast. My only demand is this: before you leave, I must speak with each of you in turn, in private."

Misora, suddenly wary, looked at the other members of her group, from Gilles' equally-wary expression to Ava's curious face, on to Ruden and Sir Robert and Scarlet, and finally Sarah, who looked more annoyed than anything else. "Any objections?" she asked them. Gilles looked around at the others, and then shook his head. Misora nodded. Apparently not. Well, it was fine with her as long as the others didn't care, so... "Okay. That's fine. So...do you guys have any riding lizards?"

Gilles couldn't help but groan and reach up to squeeze the bridge of his nose.

* * *

Misora lay in bed for a long time that night before sleep came, thinking about the things the half-eared elder had told her. The Endtime Prophecies... It wouldn't have been so bad if it was just the usual doom and gloom, end of the world sort of thing, where some guy with a few screws loose declares the end of the world will be next year on valentine's day, but no. According to the elder, the time was _now_. Apparently, things were already in motion, ensuring the event, whatever it was, would occur in the near future. And, she was quite disturbed to discover, many of the events seemed to be related to things she had been told to watch out for and prevent as part of her mission by the Church.

Suddenly, she found herself wishing for Cocone again, and hugged her pillow to her chest. The other girl had always been strong, and before Misora had graduated and left Mahora, Cocone had already been turning into a woman. A short one to be sure (Misora was quite sure Cocone would never even be as tall as she was herself), but a woman nonetheless. Self assured, strong, with a protective streak a mile wide...Misora felt wetness on her cheeks and realized she was starting to cry. She sighed bitterly and swiped at the moisture on her face.

It was all that damn half-eared elder's fault...! Why did he have to throw all this end of the world garbage on her all at once? And some prophecy about her, specifically, getting ripped in half...what did that mean? She knew prophecies were usually very roundabout and confusing, and often didn't even make sense until after the event had already happened, and this one probably more properly meant that she had to go through an extremely difficult choice or something like that, but even so she had to admit the wording was more than a little disturbing. Had the church known about this before they sent her here? Bishop Marco? Ciel-sempai? They had to have known, there was no way they couldn't have, if these prophecies were true...! And it would certainly explain the way she had often caught other people in the Church looking at her...

She had been so stunned upon leaving her interview with the elder at what she had been told that she hadn't even thought to speak with the others, but had instead just followed her guide to the small private bedroom reserved for her use; once there, she had found her things placed neatly on the bed, and had retrieved her pactio card first. Cocone...oh, Cocone...! What would Cocone do in this situation?

* * *

Chisame followed the rough forest trail as quickly as she dared on the aging motorcycle, cursing bitterly whenever she hit a particularly hard bump that made her teeth rattle and shook the motorcycle down to its frame. Already the motorcycle's engine had begun to make strange whining and scraping noises and probably wouldn't last long at this rate, and she didn't think the avalanche she had caused would keep Fate more than a day or two at best; she knew it was entirely possible that he had already escaped. He was a good tracker, too...it wouldn't take him long to catch up once he was free, especially since there was little she could to hide her trail here. Speed was of the essence.

But...the situation wasn't _that_ bad; here and there, she could spot occasional signs of a small group that had passed through probably a week ago, and once she had found a buried refuse pit in a campsite hidden off to the side of the trail. It had yielded up several half-burned documents that she had carefully gone through, burned, and scattered as ashes as she rode. She was definitely on the right trail. It was just a matter of catching up with Misora's group before their next point of divergence... The bushes started rustling on one side of the trail and Chisame cursed aloud and gunned the engine, shooting past just as an enormous ostrich-like bird stepped out on the trail. It snapped at her, but she was already far out of reach and speeding on. She took a chance and glanced back at it; it chased her for a moment, steadily losing ground in spite of its gigantic stride, and finally stopped in the middle of the trail, cocking its head to the side as if confused about how she was moving so fast.

Well, at least she knew one thing: if Fate was following close behind her, he would certainly have to deal with a lot of wildlife.

She continued on.

* * *

The abandoned riding lizard, having run away during the gryphon attack on Misora's group so long ago and not recaptured, nosed around the site of the avalanche, hoping to find something to eat. The gryphons it had been chewing on for so long had been buried under the debris, and it had been forced to resort to mice and the occasional bone or larger animal, of which there were very few in such a dry area. It was still fat from days and days of feasting on dead gryphons, however, so it wasn't as if it was in any real danger of starvation at this point in time; it was just hungry. Something deep within the rubble made a sound, and it paused for a moment, trying to locate the source. After a moment, it wandered toward the debris field from the avalanche. With any luck, it might have found another meal...

A small section of the rubble beside the mountain shifted subtly, causing a small cascade of stones down one side. The riding lizard froze, watching the place where the rubble had fallen, hoping for some sign of prey. While quite small for a riding lizard (barely fifteen feet long, tail included), it was quite fast moving for one, and had little cause to worry about any predators here. It crept closer up the slope, its tongue flicking out to taste the air. The dust settled and everything returned to silence for a moment. The next shift was more powerful, and was accompanied by a sound like distant thunder as the ground vibrated for a good ten seconds. More stones fell, and a nine hundred pound chunk of rock came loose and tumbled down the side, coming to rest atop its smaller brethren at the bottom of the new slope created by Chisame's avalanche. The riding lizard slid several feet down the loose gravel and dirt of the slope and paused again, its slow reptilian mind trying to process what this might mean, but ultimate it decided to just go for it and scrambled up the slope; it began digging in the loose dirt and rocks that seemed to be at the source of movement.

There was little sound but for the lizard digging for a full five minutes before the next quake struck, much more strongly. The side of the slope bulged out for a moment and collapsed, hiding the scene in a cloud of dust and flying stone chips out of which the riding lizard darted, pausing every few steps to turn and look back, its tongue flicking wildly. There was another sudden explosion of earth and stone along with a billowing cloud of dust, and the lizard ran down the side, narrowly evading another avalanche of earth and stone that carried several boulders large enough to crush it with ease. It ran perhaps fifteen feet before suddenly freezing in place mid stride. It could smell something... It turned and scrambled back up through the dustcloud. It smelled blood! There _was_ something alive up on the slope...! It darted up the slope, weaving its way around large chunks of earth and stone, navigating entirely by smell. Blood...! Something it could eat!

* * *

Fate pulled himself out of the loose sand and gravel, covered in scrapes and bruises, dirt and blood, with his hair all a mess, his clothing ripped and stained, and his expression utterly, scarily neutral.

She had dropped a mountain on him.

That, that suspicious cat girl had dropped a _mountain_ on him...!

He mouth twisted into a frown. He couldn't let this slight go unpunished. He would have to find her. Yes. Find her and show her how to _really _drop a mountain on someone; there would be none of this go-for-the-weak-spot nonsense, not for _her_. She had had the temerity to freeze him and place with a style of magic he had never come across before and drop a mountain- He paused mid rant as he heard something large scrambling up the slope toward him. His frown grew. Another pest.

The abandoned riding lizard burst into view through the dust cloud, all gaping maw, hot breath, and jagged teeth, and Fate clocked it upside the head as it came in, staggering it, then booted it in the ribs and watched as it rolled down the slope and out of sight into the flying dust.

He peered out into the billowing dust all around him, but couldn't tell if there was anything else out there ready to attack. How long had he been trapped? One day? Two? More, maybe? It was hard to tell, and he couldn't even see the sky to see what time it was through the dust cloud he had created. He would find her though. He would find her if he had to track her to the ends of Mundus Vetus to do it...!

He took a deep, calming breath and cleared his mind. He had other duties first, that suspiciously familiar cat girl would have to wait until he had killed or captured Kasuga Misora; anything else was secondary. But he doubted he could catch up just by walking...

He set off down the slope after the riding lizard.

* * *

Chisame looked at the elves in disbelief. "Oh come _on_...! You know, Kasuga Misora, the White Rabbit? She came through here with her ragtag bunch of misfits? I _know _you've seen them, they definitely came through here!"

The dozen masked elves stared at her, their eyes cold as they pointed their weapons at her.

Chisame stared right back.

Finally, one of them stepped forward and lowered her mask. "We know them. The trouble lies in what you want with them," she stated plainly.

Chisame ground her teeth in frustration. 'Idiots...! Wasting time like this when the whole world was in danger...!' She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, held it, let it out, and finally looked again at the elf woman. "This is about prophecies," she stated through clenched teeth. The elf woman looked suddenly nervous, and Chisame knew she was finally getting through to her. "The Endtime Prophecies? The White Rabbit? Is any of this getting through?"

* * *

The ruins were just as Chisame remembered them from the last time she was there, which was no surprise, really. Still...

"...hey, is there any chance you could untie me? I promise I won't try to escape until I meet the Grand Elder," Chisame said, trying very carefully to keep her exasperation from boiling over into rage at the idiocy of it all. She was tied by the hands to a five-foot post set deep in the floor of a fairly large stone room, perhaps fifty feet across and twenty deep. And, of course, the guard was ignoring her. She wondered not for the first time where the guard captain had gone off to, and glanced around the room again. She should have known better than to hope the elves would understand the severity of the situation; a wasted day meant little to a person who would probably live to be three hundred. Elves...yet another type she couldn't predict; something about the whole race just didn't gel with what she knew. Luckily, they tended to be slow when it came time to make major decisions, and when one wanted to manipulate a person to produce certain results, well...that was one thing she was perfectly willing and able to take advantage of. Luckily, it wouldn't have to come to a week long debate before her release. All she needed to get her point was to speak two words to the Grand Elder, and she would have his full attention. But first, she needed to get out of this holding cell...

The issue was rendered moot a moment later when the guard captain, an elf woman named Trista, returned and walked toward Chisame, pausing about eight feet from the post she was tied to. They eyed each other for a moment, Trista tense and disturbed, Chisame annoyed yet patient.

"Have you spoken to the Grand Elder yet?" Chisame asked, her fake cat tail swishing back and forth to demonstrate her annoyance.

Trista's disquiet only grew. "Who _are_ you? How do you know about the Grand Elder? How do you know about _us_?_ No one _knows about us, anywhere, and my grandfather doesn't recognize you at all..."

Chisame gave her a long look, and finally nodded toward the post her hands were tied to. "Let me go and I'll tell you anything you want to know. But I _must _meet with the Grand Elder immediately. Anything else is secondary."

Trista gave her a long, hard look, then nodded at the guard, who approached Chisame cautiously, as if she was some dangerous animal that might attack with no provocation. The guard nearly jumped out of his skin when his eyes met Chisame's, but he did as he was told and she was quickly released.

"Now," Chisame said, rubbing her wrists where the rope had been wound around them, "where's the Grand Elder?"

Trista gave her a look, but led her out of the holding cell and off into the ruins.

* * *

The meeting with the elder started about like Chisame had thought it would. He had been seated in a large chair on a raised stage in a round stone room shaped not unlike an upside down funnel, designed to put a lot of mental pressure on whoever was being interrogated, with the other, lesser elders seated equidistantly around the edges of the room lending even more to the feeling of being watched. She glanced up at the shadowed galleries as they stretched up to the ceiling hundreds of feet above (an impressive piece of architecture to be sure) from her spot in the center of the floor, her fake cat ears and tail still and confident. 'Well,' she thought, 'at least they're taking me seriously.' This place was known among the elves as the 'Chamber of Inquisition', where the wicked and dangerous were put on trial, and where great matters of state were argued and decided. Few outsiders ever saw this room; she doubted even Misora had been allowed to see it.

"State your name," one of the elders said, his voice echoing crazily in the massive chamber.

Chisame looked the Grand in the eye, and he returned her unflinching stare. "Hasegawa Chisame." She might as well play along; it would certainly make things go more smoothly.

"What are you, a mere human, doing in our sacred lands?" another asked.

Chisame couldn't help but smirk. Sacred lands? Ha! Yeah right. This land wasn't sacred, it was the site of a massacre! Best not tell them that, however. "I am searching for my friend, Kasuga Misora. The White Rabbit," she said, her gaze never leaving that of the Grand Elder. She saw his expression suddenly go wary at her casual mentioning of Misora's title, and any doubts that Misora had been here were swept away. She took a step forward, and the elder shrank back slightly in his chair.

"Return to your-"

"The Adversary," she said. The elders began murmuring, and one of them cried out something in that private language she had never bothered to learn. "The Adversary has begun to move, and its agents are in positions of power all over Mundus Magicus. Misora is important in what is to come, and she is in trouble," Chisame stated loudly, letting her voice echo through the cavernous space. "Unless I get to her soon, she will die."

The Grand Elder seemed to realize he was rapidly losing control of the situation, and sat up straighter. "And who are you, for us to take your word in this?"

Chisame looked him in the eye, smirked tiredly, and pulled her necklace off, hiding the item that hung on the end of it in her fist. "I am Hasegawa Chisame, who lives outside of time. I am the Keyholder!" she shouted, holding her hand up high and letting the chain of the necklace slide through her hand until all present could see the ancient, simple key that hung on the end. She had the satisfaction of seeing the Grand Elder go deathly pale, and for the first time since stating her name looked around at the other elders; to an elf, they were cowering in their chairs, pale and terrified. One had fainted and fallen out of his chair, unheeded by his fellows as he lay sprawled out on the floor.

"The Keyholder!"

"The End is upon us!"

"It is too late!"

The Grand Elder, in a remarkable display of fortitude, pushed himself up out of his seat. "SILENCE!" he roared at the other elders, his voice echoing throughout the building and startling them out of their panic. "Elder Rory, Elder Fan, revive Elder Torren. Everyone else, be silent." He turned back to Chisame and bowed low. "My apologies, Keyholder, I was not aware of your identity." They all knew the prophecies; it was part of their training as elders. Only one who had reached the rank of Grand Elder was permitted to read the secret prophecies and learn the truth of the Keyholder, however...this poor girl. This poor, poor girl...

Chisame sighed and shook her head. "It doesn't matter. What matters now is that I catch up to Misora, as soon as possible. Do you understand her importance?"

The Grand Elder nodded slowly. "Not completely, but we have an inkling. What is her role?"

"She must survive until the final battle. If she falls, it's all over."

Silence fell over the elders then.

"But...she is still only a girl...!" the Grand Elder said, almost to himself. "She must be protected! If we send Trista now, she may be able to capture her before-"

"No," Chisame said, cutting him off as she started to pace. There were so many ways this whole thing with Misora could go wrong, but capturing her? Holding her prisoner until the final battle? That was only the easiest way to screw the world over. "The role she must play is too important, too intricate; if she is captured and imprisoned for her own protection, well..." Chisame shook her head and held her hands out helplessly. "The End."

* * *

The Grand Elder sat heavily in his chair and appeared to go deep into thought. Oh, how he wished he could have been young enough to follow this girl and help...! His half-ear felt like it was burning again, like it always did when he thought about the old days of battle and fighting for what one believed in with nothing but a blade and a little magic. He had lost his ear in a battle with a demon, a demon he had personally defeated and sent back to the demon world in single combat...now _that_ had been a fight! Those days were far behind him now, though their memories lingered on in his very bones and made him once again curse the frailty of great age, the growing horror of the aging warrior as they woke up each morning, a little slower than they had been the day before, a little less sharp. "Damn..."

The girl, the Keyholder, looked back at him, curious, so he heaved himself up from his chair, never feeling so old as he did at that moment. "Hasegawa Chisame, Keyholder, you will have our assistance in anything you do. If you need supplies or anything else, you need only ask. We will help you in whatever you may need, and my granddaughter herself will be your guide; just yesterday she returned from the southern coast, where she left your friend and her group. When will you be leaving?"

Chisame looked at him, the calculating look in her eyes far, far out of place in such a youthful face, made even more so by the false cat ears and tail. He could tell this girl had already seen far more than anyone should ever have to; he felt like an ant before a god.

"Hmm...I'll need food for two weeks, a few changes of clothes, and..." she paused for a moment, and he found himself hanging on her every word. So this was what it meant to have dealings with someone who knew all of reality as if it was their own backyard...!

* * *

In the end he sent her off toward the coast, well supplied and guided by the captain of the guard, his own granddaughter Trista. In addition, Trista had brought along a small hand picked group of her most elite troops, though he had no doubt the Keyholder could deal with anything that came her way, one way or another.

He excused himself from the excited chatter of the other elders around the dinner table that night and retreated to his chambers, where he stood disconsolate, leaning back against the edge of the doorway of what he privately called his Trophy Room. Racks of weapons lined the walls and powerful artifacts stood on pedestals, all captured trophies from old battles long forgotten by all but him. What use was all of this? He moved to the center of the room, to the most ornate pedestal, and looked once again at the ancient sword it held. His father's sword. For five hundred years he had wielded that sword, and never had he truly lost a battle with that sword in hand. The ancient Elven scimitar was a simple, plain thing, far less impressive than the ornate, over-decorated museum pieces that lined the walls of the room, and yet beautiful, elegant in its sheer simplicity. This was a sword meant for one thing, forged in a time when swords were still meant to be used for killing rather than as an officer's prop. The girl had said someone was following her, someone who might very well try to wipe them out simply because they would have information on her or Misora. He extended his hand toward the handle of the sword, and paused. If it really came down to it, he knew he wasn't as good a fighter as he used to be; age had settled too heavily on his ancient body. Already he well past the usual lifespan for an elf. Six hundred and twenty seven years...only two other elves in history had lived to such an age, and neither one had made it to six fifty. He had lost many friends over the years to age and sickness, injury and curse and wild animals, to magic and the land itself. And those girls...he didn't think he could bear the thought of someone making the Keyholder or the White Rabbit suffer any more than either one already had.

He was old. He was stiff most of the time, and could sometimes scarcely get out of bed in the morning due to the pain in his back and the aching in his joints, but...

"I was a warrior once, I never expected to live forever."

He grasped the hilt of the sword.

He might not be able to defeat this man who was said to be so powerful, but he would certainly give him a fight. Anything to buy time for the Keyholder and the White Rabbit. With any luck...

...and, he thought as the ghost of a smile lit up his face upon once again feeling the familiar weight of that sword in his hand, he had always been lucky.

The Keyholder and the White Rabbit...Chisame and Misora were well on their way. The scouts would no doubt discover this man tracking the two girls as soon as he entered their territory. If hostilities were initiated, he would go all out. He might die, they all might die, but his granddaughter was away, his bloodline would continue, and someone would be here to greet Urashima Taro upon her return, even if this last hidden city fell.

He took up the scimitar and its sheath and went to stand beside his bed. He placed the sword and sheath on his bed and changed into his bedclothes, the weariness of years melting away as he once again picked up the sword, feeling its comforting weight in his hands. He propped the sword against the wall by the head of the bed within easy reach and laid down, feeling oddly energetic in a way he hadn't in decades. He quickly fell asleep and, for the first time in years, slept soundly and dreamed dreams of old battles, heroes, and doing what was right.

* * *

_**Author's Notes**: Yes, the cute, shy woman Misora was tormenting in the bath is the same one who squirted people's innards out of their bodies during the caravan massacre. Think about that for a moment._

_But anyway, elves. Since the issue was never addressed (that I'm aware of, anyway) in Negima, I'm improvising a bit. Elves are born, mature at a similar rate as humans, and then, according to human perceptions, seem to stop aging once they hit the period between their late teens and mid twenties. As far as old age, Elves tend to live to be 300 or so. Consider it to be the equivalent of a human in their 70s. Some elves live into their 400s, a few into their 500s, and very rarely, one lives into their 600s, though they usually only last a couple years before finally succumbing to old age. The half-eared Grand Elder Saere is the third oldest elf in history and a once-famous warrior, and one of only a hundred or so who have reached the age of six hundred. Other than this aging rate and the effect it has on their perception of time, elves are just like humans._


	32. Ch 30 Misora in the Magic World, pt 4

**Still Waters 3, Chapter 30, Misora in the Magic World, Part 4**

* * *

_On the southern edge of the Great Cerberus Forest, two miles from Northside_

* * *

After a little over two days of fast travel by secret trails known only to the elves, Chisame and her escort of guards led by Trista arrived at the southern edge of the Great Cerberus Forest, which extended up to the coast itself in many places though the great trees of the interior had disappeared by this point, replaced with smaller, faster growing flora that sprung up quickly after every hurricane to replace that which had been lost.

She waited in the bushes with Trista and a few of the guards while the others scouted around, looking at tracks and watching for signs of anything—or any_one-_ that might attack. After a moment, Trista's lieutenant waved his hand, signaling that it was safe to come out. Chisame glanced at Trista and confidently stepped out onto the narrow strip of sand between forest and sea, relishing the clean, clear scent of the sea air. It was rare to find air so clean back on Earth, and even here in Mundus Magicus it was fast becoming quite uncommon. She took another deep breath and let it out, letting her lips form a pleased little smile almost of their own accord as she did so.

"It is quite pleasant, isn't it?" Trista asked as she moved up to stand beside Chisame, still in the shade of the trees. "On a clear night, you can see the lights of Southside across the strait."

Chisame nodded. "I just can't get enough of this. Anyway, Northside's that way, right?" she asked, pointing west along the coast.

Trista nodded. "About two miles. We would have brought you closer, but we avoid that place. Misora took the boat across; she said she was planning to take the Great Coast Road, where the convoys travel, east and south until she came upon some suitable port with a ship bound east."

Chisame nodded back at her. "Okay, I understand. Where is Aetheria?"

Trista gave her a confused look. "The latest reports put the storm at about five hundred miles due east and holding steady. Close, but not enough to have much of an effect on this region...why do you ask? Is it coming this way?"

Chisame shook her head. "No, _that_ storm won't come here for a while yet. So," she said, her fake cat tail twitching as she changed the subject. "Walk along the beach two miles that way and I'll find Northside. I understand." She paused for a moment, looking out at where Aetheria, the Eternal Storm, was currently churning its way through the ocean it had lent its name to. Oh, if only these elves knew the truth of that storm...! As long as it was still that far offshore, everything would be fine. She brushed it off and looked back at Trista. They would learn, in due time. "You remember what I said about the one following me?"

Trista smiled confidently, and Chisame knew her warnings had fallen on deaf ears. "Don't worry about _him_. We are the elves of the Great Cerberus Forest! We fight dragons and gryphons and brave the dangers of the forest every day from the moment we're old enough to hold our blades! A single boy won't be much of a problem, no matter _how _strong he is." She gave Chisame a friendly slap on the back. "Don't worry about us. Just be sure to keep moving and keep yourself safe; we can take care of ourselves."

Chisame looked out at the sea again, carefully masking her expression. Those stupid elves...! How many would survive the week? Dear, stupid elves...she liked them, she really did, but they were just so _stubborn_...! No other race made so fine an army, no other race had the patience to become so skilled in all they did. Sheer Elven stubbornness, however, was their downfall more often than not. Clinging to old traditions, old prophecies, ancestral lands...more elves had died in idiotic wars over nonsense like that than in wars with legitimate causes. But to have an elf for a friend was to have a friend for life, if one could deal with their stubbornness. She glanced over at Trista and the elf woman took an unconscious step back upon seeing the sad look on her face. She hoped Trista would live long enough to meet her again... "Hey, do me a favor, would you?"

Trista swallowed the sudden lump in her throat upon seeing Chisame's expression and nodded nervously. "W-what is it?"

"Take the Tree Road back, okay? And promise me something."

Trista nodded jerkily, wondering how Chisame could possibly have known about the Tree Road; no one outside the ruins knew about it, and only a few inside. It was often simply called 'The Quick Way', because, well...it was quick. One didn't have to worry about sneaking along to avoid any unwanted attention like one did on the trails.

"If you see the boy that was following me on your way back, don't let him see you. If he does, it will already be too late."

Trista looked Chisame in the eye for a long, long moment. What the girl had just said was deeply insulting in a way a friend's words should never be, and yet...something in the girl's eyes bothered her on an extremely deep level, and she began to feel the first hints of doubt creep into her mind. "...I'll think about it," she said after a moment.

Chisame nodded, knowing that was the best she could expect, and hefted her pack again. "Good. With any luck we will meet again. So...I'll see you later," she said, nodding at the elf woman.

Trista stood there on the beach for a long time, watching Chisame walk away, as a nameless dread grew in her belly.

Something here was definitely wrong...she had to get back to the ruins, right away!

* * *

"Oh man, I hate bandits!" Sarah whined as she socked a big guy on the chin as he came in fast in an attempt to grab her. The ki-charged blow sent him reeling off the road into the ditch, where he fell in an undignified heap and didn't move.

"Yeah yeah, save it for—whoa! Hey, watch it there, buddy!" Misora said as she kicked a large rock into another bandit's face before he could get another magic arrow off. Three of his friends came rushing to his aid. "Hey Ava, gimme a hand here?" Misora called out as she bravely ran away.

"Ah! Sorry, I can't—Ah!-help you," Ava said as she tried to avoid getting gutted by a man with a knife. Luckily, Ruden came in from the side and sent the man sprawling with a punch to the jaw. Without the use of any of her more powerful spells, she was virtually useless in a fight like this.

"This would be _oh_ so much easier if you allowed us to use lethal force," Scarlet said drily as she poked another bandit in the arm with the tip of her sword, severing a tendon. She was tempted to nick an artery just to be contrary and claim it had been one of the vagaries of fate, but she resisted the temptation and poked him in a particularly painful spot in the leg instead, leaving him in a pitiful ball on the ground as he screamed. "Don't you agree, Robbie?"

Sir Robert was in a good fight himself against the bandit leader, a big man who was deceptively fast with his blade. Sir Robert was no slouch though, and in his younger days would have thrashed the man within seconds. Now, however, the bandit leader was simply giving him a good workout, and Sir Robert was never one to ignore such a chance, rare as they were. "Perhaps," he allowed, almost smiling at the first good one on one fight he had had in _years_. Up to now, everything had been utterly one sided or one on five. "And don't call me that, it's—ah, good attempt sir, but not good enough I'm afraid!—it's undignified," he finished as he finally disarmed the bandit leader and held the point of his sword at the top of the man's throat. He lifted the blade just enough to draw blood, forcing the bandit leader to stretch his neck up as far as he could to avoid a cut artery; he looked as if he dearly wanted to strangle the older man, or at least spout a few obscenities, but knew that he couldn't move an inch without getting his throat cut. The other bandits, seeing their leader defeated and held at sword point by a man who looked old enough to be his grandfather, wisely decided to surrender.

* * *

"So, anyone seen Gil?" Misora asked cheerily as she wiped someone else's blood off her hands onto an unconscious bandit's shirt some minutes later. This whole thing about 'not killing every freaking bandit you come across!' was harder than it looked...she could tell it was hard on the others too. They were all simply too powerful, too _good_ for small fry like this...and yet every bandit they came across seemed suicidally overconfident. Ava especially was struggling to reign in the power of her spells; virtually every spell she could cast would kill its target easily unless the target just so happened to be a master-level mage, or someone really good with shield or deflection spells. Ava had basically been reduced to eye candy.

Freaking truckers, making everything difficult...she heaved a sigh and shook her head. Oh well, no use crying over spilt milk. Or blood. A lot of those bandits were real scum-of-the-earth types, the lowest of the low. The sort that wouldn't just kick someone who was down, but steal their wallet and stab them in the back in the bargain. She had no problem 'dealing' with those; well...that wasn't entirely true. Every time an attacker died, it hurt her somewhere deep inside even if she pretended everything was normal. She had asked Gil how he dealt with that sort of thing, but he had just seemed confused, as if he didn't really understand what she was talking about. Her next attempt had resulted in Ava refusing to talk to her for a few hours. She knew Scarlet didn't have a problem with killing, and Sir Robert had been fighting for so long that his heart had been toughened to the point where the death of an enemy was a normal thing; for some reason, she found this aspect of the otherwise kind and grandfatherly man quite disturbing. Ruden was a mystery, and Sarah refused to talk about it. In fact, as far as she could tell, Sarah had only ever killed one person, a bandit who had come at her swinging a massive sword. She had struck him firmly in the chest with a ki-charged strike and blew his ribcage out through his back. The young woman had vomited heavily a few minutes later, but had thus far shown no other signs of mental struggles. Misora could tell Sarah was still bothered by it, but she refused to talk about it, just like the others.

"He was out scouting ahead, wasn't he? With what's his face, the dog guy?" Scarlet said idly as she whacked one of the bandits with the flat of her sword, just because.

"Oh yeah, that's right..." Misora said thoughtfully as she inspected some of the knots holding the captured bandits' hands behind their backs. She reflected idly that such a thing might be a bad sign with any normal person, but Gil was no normal person, and neither was the dog guy, come to think of it. Probably the reason the truckers had had him out on scouting duty when they first met up. 'Buncha weirdoes,' she thought happily.

"Looks like the truckers are catching up," Sarah said, pointing back along the Great Coast Road at the slowly approaching dust cloud. The truckers running the Great Coast Road faced many hazards, magic and mundane, natural and man made. It was only natural that they formed long convoys before setting out; anything less than fifteen trucks traveling together was merely a target, and anything less than fifty could still be attacked, given the audacious reputation of the bandits inhabiting the area and the avarice of the local dragon population, the members of which were on a constant lookout for anything that reflected light with which they could line their nesting sites. On their third day of walking, Misora's group had run across one such convoy of truckers under attack by a particularly aggressive dragon. Five minutes and one terrified, fleeing dragon later, the truckers had offered to pay them to stay with them all the way down to the port city of Aris, where they would get rid of their load from Zephyria and load up on goods from Vairocana and the oni lands, which they would bring north up to Southside, from which port the goods would be shipped across the strait and on up to Granicus for sale, or maybe even Zephyria or Ariadne, a continent away. Goods from the oni lands, long restricted to a few shipments a year, had recently opened up to trade in a very big way, and the company that these truckers worked for had secured a contract to supply oni goods to a few trading centers that controlled what amounted to a good quarter of the world. Misora had sneaked a peak at some of the goods that were apparently in such great demand back in Hecates, but the items in the crate in the storeroom of the tavern seemed to consist of little more than tacky one-shoulder tank tops in garish colors. She didn't really see the point, but if things here were anything like they were in Japan (and she honestly wouldn't be surprised if they were, judging by what she had seen since her arrival), then some celebrity who was famous for being famous had probably taken to wearing the style on TV or something.

Misora sighed and shook her head. "Figures. 'Sure, set us up in a few trucks as decoys for an ambush, I don't mind!' Tch!" Sure, the truckers had given them vehicles and a guide in the form of the one they all called The Dog Guy mostly because none of them could actually pronounce his name properly, but they had been ambushed seven times in the past two days, and it was really starting to get old. They were losing a _lot_ of time here; traveling alone, they should have been _way _farther by now...! But then again, it could be pretty lucrative, despoiling bandit camps. Every single truck was by this point filled to the brim with various goods taken by the bandits, and some even had things tied to the roof. They would have a pretty good payday when they finally got to Aris, by the looks of things...she wondered if they'd have to dump something for lack of room.

"Here they come," Sarah said, pointing at a motorcycle coming up the road toward them as she casually whacked a whining bandit on the back of the head. "Or one of 'em, at least."

"Owww! You can't do that! That's excessive force! Brutality! You're gonna go to jail!"

Sarah gave the bandit a blank look. "Would you like me to get my friend Misora over here? I once saw her kick a guy's head clean off, looked like a guillotine had done it. Happened so fast he didn't even know he was dead for ten minutes. Body was still walking around and everything." She paused, and grinned evilly. "...wanna see?"

The bandit, now fishbelly pale, was horrorstruck at the story, opening and closing his mouth silently as he tried to comprehend the idea that someone could kick someone's head off so fast and clean they wouldn't even realize anything was wrong. He had seen strange things before (this was the magic world, after all), and it wasn't outside the realms of possibility, based on past experience...

"Now I'm not as good as her; it tends to leave a bloody mess when I try it. But...you know what they say, practice makes perfect~!" she said, grinning pleasantly as she took a running start. Her foot missed the guy's head by a carefully decided half an inch, and he screamed like a little girl and fainted.

"Quit torturing the prisoners, Sarah," Gil said as he parked and dismounted from the heavily laden motorcycle he had been riding. He headed for Misora and met her halfway. "Big bandit camp about five miles ahead, hidden off the road; we wiped them out. Dog Guy's out there sorting through everything now. I just grabbed whatever looked good and brought back what I could carry on the bike. Do you think they'll want to check it out?" he finished, referring to the group of truckers.

Misora sighed and rolled her eyes as the others approached. "Do you even have to ask? I want to check it out first though, there might be something good there..." She paused a moment to glance around at the others.

Scarlet shrugged. "Someone's got to watch the bandits."

"...not necessarily," Gil said.

Misora gave him a sharp look and shook her head. "They're just bandits, they gave up already. We won't be killing them unless they try to resist," she said firmly.

Gil looked like he was about to say something, but thought better of it and shut his mouth.

"Well, I'm going to the bandit camp," Sarah said. "I want to see if there's anything good there."

"Okay then," Misora said. She looked around at the others. Ava seemed interested, and Ruden looked content to stick with Ava, as usual.

"If you don't mind..." Sir Robert said, seeming more energetic than usual. Misora figured the good fight he had had with the bandit leader must have really gotten his blood flowing.

Scarlet sat down on the prisoner Sarah had scared unconscious a moment before and made herself comfortable. "You guys go ahead, I'll stay behind and watch these guys until the convoy gets here."

Gil grinned crookedly. "Well I think you'll all see it eventually; with all of the convoys this group has raided, it will take _days_ to sort through everything."

Misora groaned.

* * *

Trista collapsed to her knees as she beheld the wreckage of the ancient ruined city that had been the only home she had ever known. Everything...everything...! Half the city at least was razed to the ground...! The ancient plazas, grand palaces, and wide stoneflagged avenues she had known since the days of her youth, all ruined, all destroyed. There was not a single building more than a few floors tall left standing, and, even more worrying, there was no one to greet her upon her return with her guards.

One of the guards, a young elf in his fifties, fell to his knees. "My home, the elders, my family...what have they done, what have they done...? What army could commit this atrocity?"

Trista stumbled past him without even realizing he was there, her eyes wide, her arms hanging limply by her sides. Everything, everyone she had ever known...all gone...! She fell into a stumbling run down what had once been a majestic, tree lined avenue, tripping over uprooted paving stones and shattered pieces of masonry that had once belonged to the elaborate guard houses that used to stand on each side of the road. She ran past ruined storehouses, collapsed dwellings, places where it seemed as if the earth itself had exploded upward with great force, and stumbled upon her first body. Shocked, she tripped over a piece of stone and fell, skinning her knees and jarring her wrists as she instinctively held her hands out to break her fall. As a young elf barely out of her seventies, death was still a far and mysterious thing to her, still something that happened to others, not to Trista, the youngest captain of the guard in in the past three hundred years. Yes, elves died to disease, to freak accident or beast or old age, but to Trista it had always seemed so...so _distant_. And yet here she was, looking into the dead face of an attractive young elf she had noticed strutting around the main plaza for the past twenty years or so. They had never spoken, and somehow that fact made the situation even worse.

She scrambled back up to her feet and stumbled back to lean against the ruins of a house on the other side of the lane, clutching her head as it started to spin. Her stomach felt oddly tight, and she realized with a startling clarity that she was about to vomit.

* * *

She walked slowly back up the lane toward where she had left her men. Her parents and neighbors were dead, her home destroyed... it seemed everyone she had ever known was dead. And yet...there had been signs of fighting everywhere she looked. Discarded, broken weapons lay here and there, and the scars and burns of strong magic were in evidence everywhere. Somehow, it made her feel absurdly proud...her people may have been wiped out, but they had fought back, and evidently injured their target as well, judging by what she could read of the signs of battle left behind. Signs of a battle that they had, without a doubt, missed by mere _hours_. 'It is a good thing I took her advice to use the Tree Road,' Trista thought; she didn't even want to _consider_ what might have happened had she met the monster who had done this on a narrow trail in the forest...

She found the others milling around aimlessly where she had left them, though she had no doubt most of them had gone off on their own as well; every elf had had a family, every elf had had someone they loved. Judging by their almost uniform strained, disbelieving expressions (the same expression, she suddenly realized, that must no doubt be on her own face), they had seen things of a similar nature to what she had just experienced herself.

They all stood there in the ruined road, unable to look each other in the eye, and Trista had one of the flashes of insight that her family was famous for: this was a turning point. If they left, no one would ever know. No one would ever know they had abandoned the debt taken on by their ancestors, centuries upon centuries ago, a debt those of the current generation had never asked for, never even understood, really. An old superstition, one might say to brush the weight of responsibility aside. If they left, abandoned this place back to the jungle, no one would ever know, and no one would ever care.

And yet...

She forced herself to meet their eyes, all of them scared, her normally unshakeable lieutenant utterly terrified and barely managing to hold back tears at what he had seen. Could she really ask them to stay here? ...could she really ask them to leave? She decided to speak.

"My family is dead..." She jumped when the words left her mouth. She hadn't meant to say that, it had just come out unbidden. She was even more surprised when she felt tears roll down her cheeks, and then everyone was crying and clinging together, and she knew even as she joined them that she could never just run away and abandon this place, none of them could. They would stay. They would stay, bury their dead, and prepare this place for whatever would come.

* * *

When the elves had recovered from the impromptu crying session, they had decided to draw up a plan of action. First things first, check for survivors. She had put one of her best men on it, and he had taken eight of his fellows to go off and search. There had been nine hundred and ninety four elves living in this ruined city when she had set off with Chisame; she doubted they had _all_ been killed. She herself, however, had a different duty to take care of, and so had taken her lieutenant and two guards and gone off to find the elders.

Elder Torren, who had given her her very first sword, was lying against a wall, cold and motionless where he had fallen. Elder Rory, all fiery energy even in his five hundreds, lay a hundred yards further up the road, still clutching the ancient, gnarled staff he favored for his magic. Elder Fan lay before the entrance to the House of Elders among the fallen guards. Trista paused for a long moment, looking down at their faces. She knew these elves, each and every one. Elder Fan, who enjoyed sweets more than he should, the guard Ellen, who had always been a little embarrassed of her extra long ears, the guard Jeffery, who had once asked her to marry him as a child... She stepped over the bodies and entered the building. More guards were inside, and Elder Mach was just down the main hallway, the stone spear that had killed him still pinning him to the wall. She went on, room to room, checking every body she came across. She was bent over the unmoving body of Elder Maryl when one of her guards rushed into the room.

"Captain! We've found the Grand Elder, he's still alive!"

She just looked at the guard for a moment, stunned, before leaping to her feet. "Show me!"

* * *

The Grand Elder Saere was at the end of a long trail of blood, created when he had dragged his battered and broken body back to his private chambers, where Trista's lieutenant had found him collapsed beside the bed clutching a sword. He had rolled him over, thinking him dead, and old Saere had almost run him through with his ancient sword before he realized he was a fellow elf. Saere now sat reclining on the bed, bleeding and mortally wounded and propped up with cushions and pillows taken from other rooms when Trista entered.

She fell to her knees beside the bed and took his pale, shaking hand. "Oh Grandfather..."

He looked down at her and smiled. "Trista...is she safe? Is the Keyholder safe?" Trista nodded, and it seemed as if some great weight had been lifted from his shoulders. "We were fools," he said without bitterness. "She warned us about the boy, and yet we tried to capture him anyway, and he thought we were attacking him! Stubborn fools, the lot of us! We brought this on ourselves!" He broke into a fit of coughing and clutched at the bandages wrapped around his ribs. Trista saw the growing splotch of blood there and quickly looked away.

"G...grandfather..."

He sat up a little straighter, wincing at the pain it caused him, and took her hand. "Granddaughter—no, Trista, Captain of the Guard. As the Grand Elder of this, the last great hidden city of the elves-"

"Wait! No! Y-you can't, I'm not ready!" Trista said, almost babbling as she realized what he was really saying.

Saere shot her a look for interrupting his speech and took a moment to catch his breath before continuing. "As the Grand Elder of this, the last great hidden city of the elves, I hereby declare you the most fit among your fellows in this place to succeed my position. Witnesses to this ceremony, state your understanding."

"I understand and witness your decision," Trista's lieutenant said somberly, echoed by each of the other two guards in turn.

"Then, as the ancient code instructs, take upon yourself the responsibilities of this position, and learn the secret lore. You will find instructions in my work desk; read them, and you will know what to do."

Trista just knelt there for a moment as her grandfather settled back into a more comfortable position on the bed, seemingly relieved at having properly passed on his title. Several minutes passed quietly, broken only by the sounds of breathing and the sound of her heart pounding in her ears.

"T...take my sword..." the old elf said tiredly, his earlier fire fading fast. "It has...served me...well..."

Trista nodded, not trusting herself to speak, and remained by the bedside, holding his hand. Several minutes passed in silence, and the Grand Elder's breathing slowed. And then, after a moment, she realized even that minor sound was gone.

"Elder Trista," her lieutenant said after a long moment.

Trista jerked and realized her grandfather's hand had gone still. "G...grandfather...?"

"He is gone."

Trista looked sharply at her lieutenant as he stepped back to make some space and began to lower himself to the floor, and shot to her feet. "Don't bow to me!" she said, her voice cracking and going high. The other two guards were going down on their hands and knees as well. "D-don't!"

"With the death of Grand Elder Saere, you, his picked successor, are now the Grand Elder Trista, as witnessed by me," her lieutenant said, echoed solemnly by the other two guards. "It is only right that we bow."

"But...but you're all that's left! I can't be a Grand Elder when there are only a dozen elves under me! And st-stand up, all of you! You're making me nervous!" She let out a strangled, fearful little laughing noise.

Her lieutenant grinned tiredly as he climbed back to his feet at her urging. "Surely there are other survivors? You don't think so low of your own kind as to believe that a single young man, no matter how powerful, could kill almost a thousand?"

Even at this point, where life had taken a turn for the bizarre, Trista had to admit that the idea was a little absurd. No matter how strong this Fate boy was, it would take time to kill a thousand elves. And, stubborn as they could be, elves weren't stupid. Now that she could think clearly again, it wouldn't surprise her to find out that many had escaped out into the forest... How many? A hundred? Two? Five? Without a doubt, many had died, mostly through attempting to attack the intruder, but...

"We will give you some time alone," her lieutenant said, ushering the other two guards out.

Trista nodded at him and turned back to her grandfather. After a moment she took up the sword her grandfather had given her, and took one last long look at him.

There was a lot to do. First would be to find any survivors and get them organized, bury the dead, then they would need food, shelter, weapons to defend against the creatures that roamed the forest...and in between all of that, she would have to read the instructions her grandfather had left, and learn the secret lore only the Grand Elder was permitted to know. They would need to appoint people to certain positions to take over for those who had died...it would be a lot of work.

Trista stepped out of the House of Elders and was greeted by a ragged cheer from a band of twenty or so elves the others had discovered hiding among the ruins.

Yes, Trista thought as she surveyed her people and a small, sad smile formed on her face. "You know...I think we're going to be okay."

* * *

Chisame came upon Misora's group almost by accident, having hitched a ride with a group of soldiers returning to the capital city, Cephissus, via the Great Coast Road; they had been relieved after a six month stint on the barren stretch of road from Southside to a small station a hundred miles or so east.

The highly trained Elysian military was officially present on the Great Coast Road in order to protect travelers from the rampant banditry and the dangers presented by the wild beasts that lived along the route, quite the excuse to hide their real purpose of defending the border and northern regions from any inroads by the aggressive Zephyrian military through the Great Cerberus Forest, as unlikely as it was. As far as the grunts were concerned, the bandits, gryphons, and dragons were more important than some imagined potential invasion through the wilds of the Great Cerberus Forest, a ridiculous prospect that would result in serious losses for any invading army long before it reached the border of Elysium. The dangers of this road were a serious problem as Chisame well knew, and one that a few patrols wouldn't have much of an impact on. Unfortunately, the capital didn't seem to understand that eight platoons couldn't properly patrol over a thousand miles of empty roadway and the surrounding countryside, and likely wouldn't send reinforcements until the troops ran into something big and bad enough to wipe them out. It wasn't a question of if, but a question of when it happened. In any case, these patrols would continue until then, and it provided Chisame with a handy method of fast travel on the back of a scout's bike, her fake ears laid back and her tail whipping in the wind as she clung to the exceedingly joyful scout to keep from falling off.

They had driven along ahead of the surprisingly fast-traveling main column, theoretically to make sure the road was clear, but mostly just to scare off any wild animals and warn the bandits that swarmed all over the region to stay away, the military was coming. No one wanted a fight with the elite and well equipped Elysian Military, and the soldiers were looking forward to time off so much that they wouldn't take any unnecessary delay well.

Chisame spotted the smoke an instant before the scout, and sighed as he quickly pulled over to the side of the road and parked the motorcycle.

"Now I hate to kick you off the bike here, but I have to go ahead and check it out, and I don't want to drag a girl like you into a fight," he said with real regret as he pulled her hands loose and carefully pushed her away. Chisame had to get off the motorcycle or risk falling off, so she heaved a much-put-upon sigh and stepped off, reminding herself not to snap at the scout for doing what he thought was the right thing. "Just stay here, Dani," the scout said, using Chisame's assumed name. He winked at her and grinned winningly. "I'll be back before too long."

"Don't get hurt, okay?" she replied in a somewhat upbeat, happier tone than what she might have used if she wasn't playing a part right now for the sake of hiding her identity. "Hurry back~!" She waved until the scout was out of sight beyond the next hill, and dropped the act. She started walking. Sure, she could have rendered the scout unconscious, stolen his motorcycle, and gone on by herself, but...she had hurt enough people already; she didn't want any more blood on her hands. Besides, it would have been a major blow to his pride to get beaten up by what he thought was just a cute girl, and she wasn't in the business of crushing people's sense of self just because she could.

The top of the next hill revealed another hill along with more thick black smoke, the sort that comes from a burning car, billowing into the sky. The sounds of distant shouts and explosions reached her ears; she hoped the scout was okay. He had seemed a nice enough sort. She continued on.

The top of the second hill revealed a third hill and a body in the road; she quickly checked for signs of life, but it was obvious the man was dead. Yep, losing an arm tended to do that to a person in a place like this. She spotted the scout's motorcycle hidden behind a rock beside the road, and continued up the hill. A huge explosion up ahead made her pick up speed, but she forced herself to stop and crawl to the hilltop to avoid outlining herself against the sky. She peeked over the hilltop and beheld a scene of horror. Bodies lay everywhere, headless, limbless, torn in half and burned by magic.

It had been an ambush. The road, at the bottom of the hill, took a sharp turn to go around a large upthrust of stone, coming very close to another rocky slope on the right side of the road. With the need for any travelers to slow to a crawl to keep from running off the road, plenty of cover, and a good sniping spot on the hill to the right, it was an ideal spot for an ambush. Looking out over the battlefield, she could tell easily enough what had happened. The first truck had been allowed to pass, as had the second and third and more. One truck closer to the middle of the convoy, however, had been burned to a crisp, blocking the narrow road between the rocky upthrust and the hill and splitting the convoy in half, and the attackers had swept down on them from every angle. The truckers had fought back well, but in the end were overmatched and forced to flee, and she could spot almost a dozen bodies wearing the uniform of the company that owned the trucks just from her current position. She slipped down over the hilltop, sticking to whatever cover she could find, which in this area meant the occasional tree, high grasses, and the odd cluster of bushes, and made her way down the slope. Luckily, it seemed the battle had gone around the turn in the road, hiding her from the view of any of the active participants. She made it to the roadside and crouched there for a moment, perfectly still, watching for any signs of movement. A moment later she spotted the scout creeping up from the other side of the road. It took him a moment to spot her, and when he did he almost jumped out of his skin. She frantically motioned for him to get down, and then darted across the road toward him, skirting wide around the unmoving body of a bandit.

"What are you doing here?" he demanded in a hoarse whisper when they were together.

Chisame shook her head. "There's no time. Did you call the others?"

The scout looked at her in surprise; he had thought she was just some silly, cute young catgirl from the city, but her tone and movements now were all business. "...who _are_ you...?"

"It doesn't matter," Chisame said quietly. "Did you call them?"

The scout nodded, fumbling with the short staff he favored as his main weapon. "They'll be here in fifteen minutes..."

There was an explosion from around the corner, and the scout jumped. Chisame ignored it. She had seen many explosions bigger and more powerful than _that_. Had been on the receiving end of more than her fair share, as well. She turned to face the scout and looked him in the eye, and realized for the first time just how young he really was. She hated to do this, but this was obviously a well-planned ambush carried out by a sizable force; if she didn't do something, these soldiers could be wiped out. She laid a hand on the scout's shoulder, felt it tense up and then relax, and smiled her best Dani Ellesane, half-breed cat girl from Zephyria, nyan~ smile. "Don't worry, I'm on _your_ side!" she said pleasantly, then slipped away from him before he could protest and made her way down the road.

A quick look revealed a bad situation; the surviving truckers, several dozen in all including wounded, had retreated in several groups to the best cover they could find, which didn't amount to much more than a few jumbles of boulders and a small copse of trees. She sighed. 'Well, at least they're not all bunched together...' If they had been stupid enough to gather together, one well-placed fireball could have wiped them out. As it was, it seemed the bandits had several mages in the ranks, and someone who understood how to properly deploy them for the most effect...wait. What was that truck doing? She paused in her evaluation of the battlefield to gape at the rapidly approaching truck, loaded down so heavily it even had crates lashed down to the roof, as it approached the scene at breakneck speed, swaying back and forth as it rattled up the road. It tried to take a turn too fast and nearly careened over as it ran off the road and hit a bump, but somehow managed to right itself at the last second, avoiding disaster. The truck tried to regain the road, drove right over it, bounced heavily over a hole hidden in the grass, and pointed its nose at a small group of bandits centered around one of the mages.

Chisame blinked at the scene, trying to understand just what she was seeing. What that driver was trying was _insane_...! She cut off that thought and reached up to massage her forehead. She could feel a headache coming on. Insane? Ha! More like utterly unpredictable, and yet somehow an obvious move. It was a plan so bizarre, so ridiculous, so _stupid_ it _had_ to work. She only knew two people who would even consider trying something as insane as trying to ram a heavily laden, slow moving truck into a mage, and Yuuna wasn't here.

Misora.

* * *

The truck bounced through the grass, went over a cluster of bushes, uprooted a small tree, and finally smashed into the small group, crushing the startled bandit mage and several of his allies under the wheels. Another took the grill of the truck full in the torso and was thrown into a tree. The truck tried to turn, slid on the now-slick grassy slope, went sideways for perhaps ten feet, taking another bandit with it, and flipped, landing on its side. It slid another twenty feet or so before coming to a stop, and the battlefield went dead silent but for the groans of the wounded as everyone tried to figure out what had just happened.

For a long moment nothing happened, and then the door of the truck was kicked open. A figure emerged, shook its head to clear it, and then climbed out to stand on the side of the truck. The woman looked around, her still-somewhat-short hair blowing in the wind, put her hands on her hips, and grinned magnificently.

"I claim this convoy in the name of Japan!" she bellowed out. There was a frightened murmur from the bandits and a ragged cheer from the truckers as they recognized the girl that had likely just saved their lives.

Chisame groaned.

"You guys!" the woman said, pointing at the nearest group of bandits, the side of her face dirty and bruised and a thin trickle of blood dripping down from her hairline, injuries from flipping the truck, as she grinned again. "Surrender now, or I'll wipe you out!"

The battlefield again lapsed into silence as the bandits considered. They looked at each other, at the other groups in plain sight surrounding the truck and the crazy woman on all sides, and the reinforcements still hidden in the woods and on the hillside.

"...are you nuts?"

Misora let out an exaggerated sigh, shook her head, and dusted off her hands. "Fine. Have it your way then~ Adeat!"

There was a brief flash of light, and twenty bandits rushed her as she jumped down from the truck. She booted the first one to reach her in the face, taking his head clean off in the quick, clean manner of a guillotine, and his body continued running straight into the truck and bounced off. The rest of the bandits were already there, so Misora let them have it if they attacked, ignored them if they ran away.

Chisame found herself watching in horrified fascination as her old classmate single-handedly took out two dozen bandits in the space of five seconds, unable to tear her eyes away from the scene. She reflected that it wasn't unlike a train wreck; she simply couldn't make herself look away. Misora was here, there, everywhere, while the bandits were running around like chickens with their heads cut off, trying to figure out what to do. She was so absorbed in watching the utterly one-sided fight that she hardly noticed when another truck drove up the road and stopped in a more proper manner, releasing a small group that immediately set about attacking any bandits they could see.

In any case the fight was swiftly over.

* * *

Misora stood in the road, her characteristic grin absent as she looked down at the body of the trucker, a man in his thirties who used to enjoy telling long, involved stories that always turned out to be elaborate jokes. The next one was a guy who always tried to flirt with Scarlet. The next one liked his tea with a peppermint stick in it. The next had been planning to retire to a place on the coast somewhere in more civilized regions in a year or two.

"There was nothing you could have done," Chisame said quietly nearby. She had seen this sort of thing more often than she cared to remember; it hardly even affected her anymore. It was sad, true; every life was important, every person had their own part to play, but she simply had bigger things to worry about than a few truckers killed in a bandit ambush.

"I know that," Misora said tiredly.

Chisame nodded. She knew all this death and killing bothered Misora, that the woman would have nightmares tonight about the bandits she had killed, but it had been necessary at the time. If Misora hadn't fought the bandits, they would have killed her, her friends, and the truckers without hesitation. It would be pointless to actually say this aloud, though; Misora knew it full well. It was why she hadn't quit a long time ago.

* * *

Gil paced back and forth, hands clenched together behind his back.

"Huh...she's kinda cute, isn't she?" Sarah said as she watched the cat girl standing near Misora a fair distance away. "I wonder how they know each other?"

Gil grunted and continued pacing.

"Heh," Scarlet said, eying the 'cat' girl. She could tell the ears and tail were just part of a disguise, something the others didn't seem to have picked up on yet. "True; I kind of want to make her a pet. They're apparently old friends," she added as an aside.

"I just wish we could have been there to stop them," Sir Robert said solemnly. Their failure to keep the truckers safe bothered him deeply; he had taken their role as convoy guards seriously, and even though they had done the best they could have under the circumstances, he still saw the deaths of so many of their charges as an almost total failure.

Ava sat in silence, tears building in her eyes over the lost truckers while Ruden put his arm around her shoulders to comfort her.

Gil grunted irritably as his pace increased. He couldn't care less about the bandits and, to put it bluntly, didn't care much about the truckers either. They were simply a means to an end. It wasn't as if he _wanted_ them to die, but when they inevitably died in ambushes or to accidents it made Misora sad, and that made him angry. And this cat girl...something about her put him on edge. He didn't like her, not at all.

* * *

In the end, Misora had agreed to keep Chisame's identity a secret from the others (she had seen right through her disguise, something Chisame had fully expected), and the trucker group had decided to join up with the military group for the sake of safety. The military group had agreed, as protecting the truckers was part of their job anyway until they had officially been relieved back in the capital, and the whole lot of them continued on down the Great Coast Road.

Chisame and Misora's group separated from the convoy in the port town of Aris. The captured goods no one wanted to keep were sold and the money split with most going to Misora's group as thanks for the help throughout the journey. The truckers threw them a party and bid a tearful farewell to Ava, and the scout nearly broke down in tears upon learning that Chisame was going to be staying behind. She favored him with a kiss on the cheek and left him standing there in the street.

With the convoy headed back north and the military heading south to the capital, Misora set out to book passage on a ship going east, and soon found it on an aging Earth style freighter called the Stalker Judith, a rough looking ship of not-so-desperate men that had been converted to run on magi-engines and had been fitted with two batteries of guns for defense against attack from man or beast. It had a crew of around forty, and could be easily converted to hold more than double that if necessary...just the sort of disreputable craft Misora found the most interesting. With their share of the loot from the captured bandit goods, paying for the whole group to come along as passengers on what was normally a non-passenger ship was easy enough, and best of all made barely a dent in their resources.

They left port three hours before Fate walked into town tired, irritated, and in a mood for trouble.

* * *

_**Author's Note:** Sorry about the late chapter; I had too much going on and it didn't get it finished until halfway through the week, and just this morning finished the last edit on it. Anyway, this chapter's content. Yeah. Grand Elder Trista? The Stalker Judith? You'll probably be seeing them again. Next chapter, Fate!_


	33. Ch 31 Misora in the Magic World, pt 5

_**Author's Note 7/30/2011**: This reupload is just an edit to fix a small error I made. If you have already read the chapter, don't worry about it._

* * *

**Still Waters 3, Chapter 31, Misora in the Magic World, Part 5  
**

* * *

_The Port City of Aris, Former Capital of the Elysian Empire, East Coast of Elysium_

* * *

The infamous port city of Aris, once the capital of the former Elysian Empire, was once the second largest city in all of Elysium before the absorption of the northern regions of the continent brought the city of Brontopolis into the empire. For over a thousand years it was _the_ center of trade and culture for the empire, and all others tried to emulate the fashions of its citizens and the style of its architecture. As time wore on, however, a series of inept emperors wasted money and other resources on enormous monuments and palaces for their favored retainers, and corruption became widespread. Rebellions arose, fought against the empire, and were wiped out four times in a single century. The border regions were threatening secession and the Eternal Storm, Aetheria, forever churning its way through the skies above the Etheran Ocena, was making its slow way toward the city from the seaward side when yet another rebellion sprang into being, gathering momentum at a dizzying pace as first Cephissus, then Brontopolis threw their weight behind it. Suddenly the Elysian Empire found itself little more than a third of its former size, and the emperor of the time, an arrogant, fat little man named Elliot, did the worst thing he possibly could: he vowed to fight the rebellion to the last man. Stupid bravado wasn't enough to hold back the well trained armies opposing him, but his pride as an emperor refused to let him see the reality of his situation. The Eternal Storm arrived at the port a week before the armies with a fury as if the world itself was rejecting the empire's existence, leaving them with little opposition. The once great city of Aris, former center of civilization for the Elysian Empire, was left little more than a muddy wreck, its former glory hidden under layers of silt and its vast conscript armies gone, those who hadn't deserted were left dead on shore or washed out to sea. The emperor was found hiding in the top of a tall tower, driven mad by the sight of his city utterly overwhelmed by the Eternal Storm, which had merely dealt the city a glancing blow as it went by. He refused to leave the tower and accept his punishment for the deaths of a million people through terrible methods of enforcing order, and later leapt from the tower to his death.

The former Elysian Empire became simply Elysium, a parliamentary republic with the capital located in Cephissus, and things slowly returned to normal. The dead were buried, the unjust rule of the emperors undone, and the countryside was made safe...or at least, made saf_er_. With so many landless soldiers and peasants wandering the highways due to the wars and extensive poverty, banditry had become rampant. The government needed some great project to show how it was different from its predecessor, but dealing with the bandits could not be done quickly, so it turned to the former capital of Aris. The streets were emptied of silt and the ruined buildings rebuilt, and the city was eventually restored to a point approaching its former glory, but it would never again regain its former magnificence, nor its importance in Elysian society.

Two hundred years after it was rebuilt and three hours after Misora, Chisame, and the rest of Misora's group left port aboard the ship _Stalker Judith_, Fate entered the outskirts of the city, exhausted and ragged after traveling so far so fast. He trudged through the streets, shooting a cold look at anyone who looked likely to start trouble over his appearance, and successfully managed to make it to the Mayor's residence, one of the larger palaces still standing from the old days of the Elysian Empire, and stalked up to the two guards in black suits and sunglasses standing at the gate. The first shot him a wary look while the second lifted a hand to the side of his head. 'No doubt contacting others for orders with telepathy,' Fate thought, mentally sneering. These weren't guards, they were just big, dumb sheep. He knew how he must look to them; covered in dirt and grime and old blood and the dust of the road, from his tattered jeans to his ragged, torn shirt to his badly worn shoes held together with duct tape, he looked like the sort of thing one typically found floating in the harbor after a bad night of drinking, made all the worse by the fact he had lost his riding lizard to a dragon attack up on the Great Coast Road and had been unable to hitch a ride with anyone, since a lone traveler on the Great Coast Road was either a) a dead traveler, or b) a bandit trying to set up an ambush. He had had to walk the last three hundred miles.

"Move along," the first guard said when it became plain Fate had something to say.

"I need to see Mayor Gren."

The two guards looked at each other, cocked their eyebrows, and focused their attention back on Fate.

"Excuse me?" the first said.

Fate focused very carefully on not ripping their hearts out and showing them to them. "I said I need to see Mayor Gren."

"The mayor has nothing to discuss with the likes of _you_," the second guard said, giving him a dismissive look. "Now move on before we have to get rough."

Fate turned his attention to the man and tried very carefully, again, to refrain from showing the man the error of his ways via slow and painful death. Or swift and shocking death; either would work. He felt the frustration he had been holding back for so long surging forth, and worked hard to restrain the building emotions before he could be prompted to act on them. It was slow going. "I have not traveled ten thousand miles over oceans and broken down trails, over mountains and deserts, through jungles and forests teeming with the spawn of starving and near-demonic _things_ so alien and bloodthirsty they would send you running home crying to your mother begging for her to make it stop _dear lord make it stop_ to be held up here, on the very _cusp_ of capturing my quarry, by the likes of _you_," he said, letting every last bit of venom he could muster seep through his voice. "Now tell Mayor Gren that a special messenger from Lord Ocali of Megalomesembria is here to speak with him _personally_, or I will see to it that everyone you love, everyone you know, every last person you have ever shared a smile with is beaten bloody and dragged naked through the streets with a pack of dogs biting at them as they scream for mercy." Fate paused for a moment. "If you please."

Evidently, something he said made the guards listen; they let him in and the butler hastily showed him to a place where he could clean up.

* * *

An hour later, Fate sat comfortably in the big leather chair behind the Mayor's enormous oaken desk, wearing a slightly-too-small suit one of the maids had found somewhere, while waiting for the Mayor's return; apparently he was out overseeing one of his businesses. While he waited, Fate took his time studying the mayor's account books, which had been carefully hidden in a secret compartment behind one of the drawers. Even with his lack of information on the exact details of the mayor's financial dealings, he could tell the numbers were off. It appeared Mayor Gren's fortune wasn't entirely legal; then again, Fate had never harbored any delusions about the source of Gren's money. The man had gotten his start in organized crime at a young age, fled a 'disagreement' up north in Brontopolis and become a bandit, fled another 'misunderstanding' to Aris with the wealth of an entire bandit group carefully packed up in three briefcases, and promptly set himself up for life by allying with the ten most important people in the city. Before long, his old enemies had mysteriously ended up dead, and he had half the city in his pocket.

Fate settled down to wait as he formulated his plans. Mayor Gren might think he was irreplaceable, but one thing the man had never learned was that no matter how important you seemed, no matter how wealthy you were, no matter who you knew, no man was so vital to any particular enterprise as to be indispensable. He dearly hoped he wouldn't be forced to show the man just how easily he could be replaced; he was tired.

* * *

As he walked through the hallway on the way to his home office, Mayor Gren was pondering whether or not he should go to the trouble of illustrating to a certain mafia head how, no matter how many men you controlled, how wealthy you were, or who you knew, no one was indispensable. The man had been skimming an extra two percent off the top for the past month or so, and when Gren had sent a messenger to inquire as to the reason for this, said mafia boss had sent back the messenger's head in a basket, full-on Oni Point style. Well, two could play that game, so the mafia boss had received ten heads in ten baskets in revenge; as far as Gren was concerned, it was what the man's transgressions deserved. So what if they were all women? They all had a connection to the man, and that was all that was needed. Humming a jaunty tune, he fished around in his pocket for a peppermint candy, and popped it into his mouth as he pushed open his office door. He made it three steps in before he realized someone was seated in his chair.

Fate looked up at him a second later, and his mouth went dry.

"M-m-mister Tertium, t-to what do I owe the surprise?"

* * *

Fate didn't bother looking up from the report he was reading until he heard the man stumble. He waited a moment, letting him worry, before looking up with a carefully schooled—and utterly bland—expression.

"M-m-mister Tertium, t-to what do I owe the surprise?"

Fate's gaze went colder than it had been already, but the idiot mayor apparently didn't take the hint as he bustled around and started fumbling with a tea set in the corner.

"Tertium, have you tried this new tea from Tristan? It's much better than that coffee you're always drinking; I don't understand how you can drink that swill at all, it's so bitter...! It is simply inferior and so unrefined!" He continued babbling on for a moment.

Fate carefully placed the report back on the desk, took a deep breath to calm himself, and let it out.

"Tertium, here, you must try this, it is simply-"

"Shut up, you disgusting pimple on the rear end of society," Fate said plainly. Somehow, it was incredibly refreshing to say the words and see the other man's confusion, to watch it change to hurt surprise, anger, and indignation, and finally, far later than it should have appeared given the situation, worry.

"Mr. Ter-"

"As loathe as I am to admit it, I need assistance," Fate interrupted. There was no point in telling the man he preferred to be called Fate rather than Tertium; apparently Gren thought he was joking the last dozen times he had told him.

Gren's eyes narrowed piggishly, quite the feat in a man six feet tall and a hundred and forty pounds at most. "I am sorry, but I am afraid my resources are all tied up at the moment, Mr. Tertium. Perhaps I could direct you to one of our _delightful_ hotels? Perhaps The Roost?"

This was an insult; The Roost was a well-known dive in the harbor district. Fate gave the almost suicidally impudent man a good, long look and felt the frustration of the past few weeks threaten to boil over yet again. Had they been speaking long distance, he might have considered rolling his eyes or heaving a sigh. _Might_ have considered. At this point, face to face, he wanted to hit the mayor in the face _really hard _and be done with it. It was obvious the man had forgotten just how little his life actually meant, and just how much he owed to Ocali and Fate. Ocali's influence had gotten him elected as mayor, and all it would take to remove him from the scene _permanently_ would amount to nothing more than a flick of Fate's wrist; Ocali wouldn't waste more than a 'He was a good man' on him before replacing him with some other sap. The man _was_ a useful tool, however...

Instead, Fate stood up from the desk, and Gren stepped back, a hint of fear showing in his face. It deepened when he finally noticed just what Fate had been reading.

"N-now just a moment Tertium, I'm sure we can work something out-"

"I need at least twelve rooms including a large room where I can look at maps, and a well stocked library as well," Fate said as he put his hands behind his back and stepped around the desk. Gren backed up further and nearly screamed when he backed into a wall. Fate began pacing slowly as he listed his demands. "A private long distance line with which I can quickly contact various places around the world, private transportation for my guests as they arrive, funds for whatever they may require, space for a mid sized airship and a dedicated crew to watch over it while in dock-"

"But...but the costs will be astronomical! The sheer expense of renting a hangar for a ship of that size for a _single day_-"

"It will be rented _indefinitely_," Fate said sharply, cutting the mayor off. "The cost is immaterial. And above all, I will require _privacy_. Do you understand?" he asked. _"Do you understand_?"

Gren, pale, scared half out of his mind, and beginning to feel nauseous, accidentally swallowed his piece of peppermint candy and nodded as he tried his very best not to choke to death.

"Good," Fate said. "Do not fail in this. If you do, you will never have to worry about this," he said, gesturing toward the secret account books, "ever again. Do you understand?"

Gren nodded frantically, pounding on his chest, and Fate nodded once in return, then strolled over and smacked the man hard in the back, rocketing the peppermint piece across the room where it stuck to a portrait Gren had commissioned ages ago upon taking office; amusingly, it stuck to the nose of the decidedly youthful and dashing version of Gren which had only ever existed in said portrait.

"Good. I will remain here for tonight, but you must prepare a building that suits my needs within the next day or so. My guests will begin to arrive in a few days' time, and they must have a place to stay. Everything must be prepared by then." He walked across the room and opened the door, but paused in the doorway as he turned back to look at Gren. "And one more thing, Mayor Gren. You had best find a better place to hide evidence of your illegal business transactions. Everyone searches the desk first."

* * *

Chisame joined Misora near one of the turrets at the rail of the _Stalker Judith_ as she gazed off into the distance over the sea.

"Hey," she said, leaning on the railing next to her.

Misora glanced over at her and grinned halfheartedly, then looked back out over the water. "Hey."

They stood in companionable silence for quite some time, just letting the tension from weeks of traveling through such dangerous regions bleed away.

"I killed some people," Misora said after a moment.

"Mm."

Silence. Chisame's fake cat tail swished back and forth slowly.

"Isn't this where you're supposed to say 'Oh, don't worry! I'm sure they had it coming!'?" Misora asked as she slumped a little lower against the rail.

"No," Chisame replied. She was quiet for so long Misora glanced over at her to see if something was wrong. What she saw flash over the other girl's face startled her so much she almost fell over the rail and probably _would_ have, if she had been anyone else; as it was her razor sharp reflexes made it a non-issue.

A moment passed in quiet contemplation.

"It'll never be okay," Chisame said, and her expression again took on that ancient, sad quality Misora had glimpsed many times before.

"...mm." Misora looked back out over the sea. Something was wrong with Chisame... Why the disguise? Why was she suddenly so depressed? Why exactly had Chisame been looking for her? She had sort of expected the dark reply to her admission of having killed people, but she didn't buy for one minute Chisame's story about their meeting up being a coincidence; she had seen the relief in the other girl's face when they met face to face after she had saved the remaining truckers. To her mind, Chisame had had the expression of someone finding something they'd been searching for half their life.

The silence they fell into this time was considerably awkward. Misora glanced over at Chisame again and their eyes met. Misora jerked back and opened her mouth to speak, but no words would come. Chisame was _looking_ at her with eyes so ancient and deep that she felt almost hypnotized, and she looked so _sad_...! "What the hell?" she finally muttered. "Chisame...?"

"...adeat," Chisame said.

* * *

The first thing Fate did upon his installation into the small palace Mayor Gren had prepared for him was get on the line to Ariadne. It didn't take long to locate Shirabe.

"Yes, Fate-sama?"

Fate found a miniscule smile threatening to form on his face, but cut it off before it could get out. Shirabe was his most able follower; she would know how to handle things without being told. "Yes. How is your investigation going?"

There was a pause at the other end of the line. "It appears that despite the attack occurring in broad daylight, no one can actually provide a clear image of the attacker. What I do know, however, is this: the attacker is most likely a human woman, between five and five and a half feet tall, has short brown hair, and was seen flying through the air to land on the victim from above while he was speaking to another man on the street, killing him instantly. She was seen to fly or jump away over a building to escape, and disappeared."

'Kasuga Misora, no doubt.' But Fate was puzzled. That was all Shirabe could find...? They had lost one of their best agents there! Ocali would not be pleased. "What about the man he was speaking with?"

"Human male, between five and a half and six feet tall, dark hair, sunken eyes; he carried a sword belted to his waist. Otherwise unremarkable. He disappeared in the chaos as well."

Obviously a distraction, then. Probably to keep their agent occupied and distracted so he wouldn't notice the woman falling out of the sky until she hit him... "That description is similar to the man spotted at the assassination of one of our agents in Moeris, as well as the man who provoked a duel with one of our agents in Vulcan." He paused a moment. Two similar people at two separate assassinations could be coincidence; three times was pushing it. "Am I correct in assuming you can do little else there?"

"I am afraid that is correct. I was preparing to return home tomorrow...is something wrong?" Shirabe asked. Fate thought she sounded worried; no doubt for his sake. It was heartwarming, in a way, and yet quite annoying. He could take care of himself.

"In a manner of speaking," he replied. "I am currently in the port city of Aris, on the east coast of Elysium, where I will remain for a short time to recover from a series of unfortunate incidents. Do you still have the _Dart_ with you?" he asked, referring to the high speed experimental airship some of the R&D guys had given them to test out. If what he was planning worked out...

"Yes," Shirabe replied, suddenly sounding less tired. "It is prepped for launch at any time. Should I leave today?"

"Yes, as soon as possible," Fate replied. "There is a private airship hanger just outside of Aris to the northwest; I will send you the coordinates. Try to arrive at night, if possible. The fewer people who catch wind of this, the better."

"Understood, Fate-sama."

"Very well." He hung up and sat back for a moment. Who else could he call? And then there was the matter of finding out where his quarry had gone... He took a sip of coffee, an exquisite blend from the northwest region around Brontopolis, where some of the best coffee beans in any world grew.

Today, he felt good. He wondered, not for the first time, how he was going to handle this. A city was a large place to watch, but he had a feeling... Instinct was important. Many people refused to believe in something as unscientific as 'a gut feeling', but he had no problem trusting his own instincts. He had a feeling that Kasuga Misora wouldn't stay in the city. Call it a hunch, but... He would start with the docks. If Kasuga Misora and the man with the sunken eyes were indeed working together as he had heard from unreliable sources back in Hecates, there were likely to be others as well; a small party looking for passage to...where? The oni lands? Travel was restricted there, but if one could escape the authorities and go out into the wilderness... Ocali had agents there as well, and none had died mysteriously yet. He would place some more calls, then. As much as he disliked the man, Ocali had some very interesting ideas about where to place his agents; virtually every port city of any significance in Mundus Magicus had several of Ocali's agents in positions where they could watch the comings and goings of the populace, or in positions where they could access such information.

He sat back in his chair, feeling like _himself_ for the first time since that cat girl had dropped half a mountain on him. That mess with the elves back in the Cerberus Forest...he had hated to do that, but they had ambushed him in the forest and it was fight or die. And since he wasn't ready to die yet, he had fought. He had tried to avoid killing any, he really had, but then during his strategic withdrawal he had stumbled across those ruins, apparently their home, and things had _really _gotten out of control then as he was attacked by hundreds and hundreds of elves. He had had to level a large portion of the city in the running fight to avoid killing them all, but there was no doubt that several hundred at least had died, probably more... Fate cut that thought off and shook his head to clear it. This was not the time to get caught up in emotions; he had a job to do.

He looked again at his map of the Etheran Ocean. Relatively closed off compared to most other large bodies of water, the Etheran Ocean was almost totally ringed by large landmasses; if Kasuga Misora was trying to flee by sea as he thought, it would be easy enough to discover the ship she chose and have his boss's people keep an eye out for it. He stood up and stepped around the desk. If he was going to find out where they had gone, he had best start now.

* * *

"Chisame...?" Misora asked warily.

Chisame held her pactio card in her hand. "...adeat."

"Chisame, what's going on?" Misora asked as Chisame's seven electronic sprites, yellow long tailed mice, appeared floating in the air around her. "Why did you bring out these guys?" she asked, petting one's head. It made a purring sound. "And since when do mice purr, anyway?"

Chisame shook her head, grinning crookedly. "They must have picked it up from Makie. Anyway, they're here for insurance. Negi," she said, addressing one of them. "Scan her and put the data in storage. If I need it, I'll need it quick."

"Of course, Chiu-sama~!" it replied. Misora cocked an eyebrow at it as it floated over to her. "Hold on juuust a second~" it said.

"Um..." Misora was interrupted by a brief flash of bright blue light, and staggered back against the rail. Chisame grabbed her arm to make sure she wouldn't go over; a useless gesture, but one that Misora appreciated nonetheless. "Ugh..." she said, holding her head. "Did everything taste purple for a minute there...?"

"Probably," Chisame said, looking satisfied. "Abeat. You should bring out your friends; I should scan them too."

Misora suddenly grinned. "Heh, good luck convincing Gilles; he doesn't trust you at _all_."

"I know. Still, it's important. I finally figured out how to do that healing trick I was working on back then."

Misora nodded, grinning as she looked out over the sea. "Sounds good. I'll try to get them to come out, but it may take a few days."

"We should have time."

They stood in a peaceful silence, each one at ease and understanding the other more than they ever could have imagined possible back when they first met.

"So, how long is this pleasure cruise going to last, anyway?" Chisame asked a moment later.

"We'll skirt around Aetheria and on up to Moeris first; then down to one of the ports in the oni lands." She paused for a long moment, glancing over at her old friend. "Want to come with us?"

Chisame looked out over the ocean, trying to enjoy what seemed likely to be one of the rare few moments of true peace she would be lucky enough to have any time soon, and nodded. "That'd be fine with me. Is it a mission for the church?"

Misora nodded. "Yep. I'm supposed to 'subvert the plans of the person trying to bring about the end of the world', or something like that. They gave me a list of prophecies I've been working off of, and so far it's been _scary_ correct. Just a couple months ago we stopped a guy who was in the process of destabilizing Ariadne to the point where it would collapse politically, you know? It was laid out right there in a few of the prophecies they gave me; description, actions, what he was trying to do...kind of confusing until you realize how to really read it, but like I said, _scary_ correct when you finally do."

"I see," Chisame replied. "What about the others? Where did they come from?"

Misora grinned crookedly and turned around, leaning back against the rail so she could look up at the few clouds in the sky. "Well, Gil was waiting for me when I first came over. The church hired him as my secretary and personal bodyguard."

Chisame grinned at that; Misora? Needing a bodyguard? Ha!

"Ava came from Elfenhof, we found Ruden in a bar fight, Sarah's looking for her father, Sir Robert had been caught off guard and hurt in an attack and we found him on the road, and Scarlet was just sort of _there_, from right near the beginning."

"What a ragtag bunch of misfits," Chisame said, smirking. Misora laughed and stood up from the rail.

"Come on, let's go inside and introduce you to the captain since you didn't get to meet him when we left. He's a smuggler, you know? But he's a good guy anyway."

* * *

Fate approached the harbor district of Aris with the casual ease he was famous for, and word quickly went through the dockside dives that a rich young idiot with more guts than brains had just stepped into the wrong side of town.

To be honest, he didn't look like much; to the toughs and thugs populating the area, he was simply a thin, almost frail looking young man with a perpetually bland expression. If one didn't bother to look too closely, it would be easy to mistake him for nothing but an idiot who had no sense of self preservation, what with the casual indifference he showed to the various people slinking into and out of dark alleys as he strolled along.

The first guy to approach him decided to take the 'staggering drunk' approach, and stumble into him in order to pick his pocket while babbling in drunk-speak. To be honest, the man was quite the actor; his initial stagger out of a dark alley with a half-empty bottle in his hand (recently poured on his clothing and a little held in his mouth to enhance the effect) was highly skilled, and several of the thugs watching would have applauded his efforts had they not been watching a robbery attempt. The man's acting was _so_ good, in fact, that he stumbled awkwardly into the space the young man had occupied half a second earlier and collapse in a dirty, alcohol-smelling heap in the road and simply lay there while the target continued on, seemingly unaware. Further investigation revealed the attempted pickpocketer was unconscious. Someone removed his wallet and they continued following the young man.

Attempt after attempt to relieve the young stranger of his valuables resulted in failure after confusing failure as the attackers collapsed in the street, often without visible cause. The thugs, being of a generally world-wise state, decided that something was amiss, here. And _obviously_ the only way around it was to attack en masse. So they did.

Thirty seconds later, Fate selected one of the would-be-muggers from the pile and lifted him up by his collar to look him in the eye.

"Have you seen a small group come through here in the past few days? Perhaps looking for passage east?"

* * *

The next several days Fate spent contacting various people in various places with orders to watch out for a group of eight people, all murderers and extremists (lies) seeking to upset the political stability of the world (most likely lies), etc. etc. etc., and to keep the matter a secret upon pain of death, due to the sensitivity of the matter (Truth. The media would have a field day if they discovered the connection between the dead agents and Ocali). He sent out the detailed descriptions he had gotten from the dockside thugs, and, not for the first time since this whole chase started, pondered the vagaries of chance and probability, as not only Negi's old student Kasuga Misora, but also that annoying cat girl appeared to be among his quarries.

That cat girl was maddeningly familiar, but he just couldn't figure out who she was! He knew he had seen that face before, he _knew_ it, but he just couldn't place it...! He sighed. Disguise magic of some sort, and quite powerful too. Quite irritating.

Kasuga Misora...she would be difficult to deal with. Her reported ability to jump down on someone's head from above without them noticing until they were dead was a dangerous one, and now that he had a few more pieces of the puzzle, it appeared that she had used that ability more than once in her apparent crusade to take down as many of Ocali's agents as possible.

Ruden...a big, capable, dangerous hand to hand fighter, he was relegated to supporting the others in a group as powerful as the one Kasuga Misora had put together. The man had quite a record in the underground pit fighting circuit; he had only lost two fights out of one hundred and thirty eight in a place where a career typically lasted five to ten fights. Fate vaguely recalled watching one of his bouts several years ago when he accidentally killed his opponent, an extremely popular oni known for his toughness. At the time, Fate had been tempted to offer him a job, but had been unable to find him after the fight. No big surprise, considering half the crowd had been screaming for his blood due to the death of their favorite.

Ava Grace...a member of the Grace family, which was directly descended from one of the ten ancient royal families that helped organize Mundus Magicus. The Grace family, now reduced to little more than a dozen members, most of whom were beyond their childbearing years, seemed likely to die out within the next few generations, ending the legacy of a family once known for its power, both political and magical, and its history of fighting off demonic invasions in the first age. Ava didn't look like much, but Fate had seen the bodies; he knew what she could do. The family had produced several water elementals over the years; it appeared they may have produced yet another in the dwindling twilight of their days.

Sir Robert the Dragonslayer, famous among the two-legged races for his heroic deeds, battling dragons of all breeds and killing each one he fought to stop them from doing any more damage to the frontier towns as he passed through. Infamous among intelligent dragon-kind, few as they now were, for his wholesale slaughter of anything with scales. Many a dragon hero had hunted him down, and many a dragon hero had fallen to his blade. He had once been as well known as the members of Ala Rubra, in his day, and yet...he had grown old. He was still incredibly dangerous, but had fallen quite a bit from his earlier days.

Sarah McDougal was just a traveller from Mundus Vetus, separated from her father through freak accident. Fate recognized the name as being connected somehow with several incidents in Hinata, back in Japan, but couldn't recall anything specific. It was well known as a dangerous, explosive bunch that lived in that place, however, so it would be best to tread carefully around her, just in case.

Scarlet was a mystery. A woman with a similar description could be found mentioned in connection with various events, some stretching back a few centuries or more. Whether it was coincidence or the same person was unknown. She carried a long, slim sword, but her abilities were unknown. Her status was unknown. So little was known about the woman that he found it uncomfortable to ponder the results of an altercation with her. If she was a vampire, she had to be a powerful one due to the way she didn't seem to care about doing things that would weaken most vampires, such as crossing water or walking around in broad daylight...any number of things did not fit with the vampire theory, and yet if the information he had was correct, she, or someone who matched her description down to the sword, had been alive for several centuries.

Gilles...now there was a man of mystery. He had almost literally come out of nowhere several years before, killed several people he claimed killed his family, and surrendered himself to the local authorities. He showed no signs of regret for the murders he had done, and when asked why he had surrendered replied with something to the effect of 'there at least has to be law'. He seemed quite sociopathic, yet held a strong sense of duty. He would have made a fine underling, had Fate found him back then. As it was, someone from Kasuga Misora's church had discovered him instead, and he had begun working for them.

Dani Ellesane, half breed cat girl from Zephyria...he had no doubt it was an assumed name. He knew the girl, had seen her before face to face, and yet couldn't figure out who she was. Without a doubt she was using some powerful disguise magic. There was no telling who she really was, or how powerful. She had also dropped a mountain on him. She would definitely bear watching.

He sat back in his chair, pondering who else he should call. Shirabe would arrive the next evening with the airship,but the two of them alone were not going to be enough to deal with the situation properly. If the information he had gathered was correct, every member of Kasuga Misora's group was a credible threat, save perhaps Sarah McDougal, and even that was only speculation; he had yet to see the young woman in action.

Kasuga Misora couldn't be allowed to continue on as she had been; she must be stopped as soon as possible. So, out of those he felt he could trust sufficiently with this, those who were powerful enough, and those who were nearby, there were few options. Tregani Mullin was one; the man was quite good and had yet to fail a mission. He also traveled with two others, who at the very least could provide a distraction. Chaser Felix, of the Great Vampire Lords, was another; he and Fate had worked together several times in the past, and while the vampire was more than a little bloodthirsty, he made a fairly reliable and very powerful ally, provided he was used correctly. A few of the other members had residences nearby, but he had learned long ago that one did not invite two powerful vampires to the same team unless one was prepared to listen to constant bickering and fighting over who was more powerful, who was older, who had the more important sire...it was ridiculous. Now, who else... Kagetaro should be easy enough to find, and he still owed a favor to Fate. Now...a demon, perhaps? Someone who could soak up damage and keep coming. Demons were often schemers, but he knew a few who could be trusted. And, if he was right, one of the few he knew and trusted should be in this very city...

* * *

"Master Fate," the butler Mayor Gren had sent over for him announced, unconsciously wrinkling his nose at the smell the man with him emitted. "May I announce Mr. Foloren Doubt." The man that entered looked like nothing special; chin covered in stubble, rough, dirty clothes that reeked of the harbor district, greasy, unwashed hair partially hidden under a rumpled and dirty wide brimmed hat of the sort favored by the dockworkers...the perfect disguise for someone looking to avoid attention from the aristocracy of the world.

Fate looked up at his old...ally? Friend? Friend sounded better, sounded _right_. He knew few people he could honestly call friends, and this man—no, this demon—was one of them. His eyes met those of his guest, and he nodded.

Foloren cracked a smile and nodded back, then glanced at the butler.

"You may leave," Fate said. The two of them remained in silence while the butler hurried out as slowly as possible. 'Probably hoping to catch something he can tell to Gren,' Fate thought in distaste. As useful as they were, he had never really liked spies. When the man was finally gone, Fate stepped around the desk, cracking a rare grin himself as his old friend approached.

When they finally stood face to face for the first time in four years, Foloren grinned at him.

"Long time no see, Fate."

"Same here."

"There's a revolution brewing in the demon world."

Fate blinked. This was news, indeed! He had known there was a growing disquiet there after the death of the old king fifty-something years ago, but an actual revolution? Ocali would be pleased to hear this! He caught himself for the first time thinking of his master as just 'Ocali' and paused, wondering when he had begun thinking that way. It was dangerous; he had best watch his words around Ocali. He shoved that aside and focused on the demon revolution. "I imagine Queen Kelory is moving forward with her plans?"

Foloren nodded. "The Royalists are following her plans, claiming it will be for the best, that we demons must move out into the world and do what we can to overturn our sinister reputation."

Fate nodded. Standard procedure. The oni had tried it long ago, as had the youkai; both were now reduced to small groups living in a few very specific regions, though the youkai were starting to make a comeback over the past hundred years or so under the guidance of the dragon steward... Such things as redemption and tolerance were never easy for those of demonic blood. "And who opposes her?"

"They call themselves Traditionalists; they're lead by Lucian Ramenthy," Foloren said, putting particular emphasis on the Ramenthy name.

Fate nodded. The Ramenthy family was directly descended from the demons of old, the _real_ demons from before the bloodlines split during the Demon War in the first age, and had often been involved in politics though they had never managed to gain any real power. The Ramenthy bloodline had been watered down considerably in the intervening years and Lucian was one of the younger ones, but he was also the most vicious and cunning to be born in centuries, with the intelligence to make use of his gifts and cover for his weaknesses. If anyone could start up a revolution on the basis of 'the good old days', it would be him. Lucian was also intensely proud, and thus easy to manipulate. Yes, Ocali would be very pleased. But enough of this; he needed Foloren's help.

"Tell me, Foloren. Do you have any plans for the next month or so?"

Foloren cocked his head to the side. "...what did you have in mind?"

* * *

That night, far out to sea, Chisame stood at the rail, looking at far-off Aetheria as streaks of lightning flashed among its clouds, twisting its way over the ocean. It was certainly an odd sight, and one she had never really gotten used to even as long as she had known of it. She became aware someone was behind her, and ducked at the last moment so the sword that would have taken off her head swished through empty air. Her tail lashing, she threw herself to the side and swung her leg up to kick the sword out of the hand of her attacker. He jumped back as the sword hit the deck, muttering a curse as he shook his injured hand.

"Gilles," Chisame said in a neutral tone as she got back to her feet. The man snarled at her.

"I don't trust you," he said simply, those four words conveying everything she needed to know. His voice was little more than a growl as he stood there, hunched over slightly and glaring, his arms held out slightly as if to grab her if she tried to dart past. He eyed his fallen sword lying in the gutter below the rail, and lunged at her again. Chisame slipped to the side, tripped him up, and struck at the back of his head in an attempt to end the fight quickly, but the ship lurched on a particularly large wave and the blow struck his shoulder instead. One of his arms snagged her waist and he used his better leverage to throw her to the deck.

Chisame let out a grunt as she hit the planking and scrambled to get away from him, but he was fast and wiry, and he was upon her an instant later. The two of them struggled for the upper hand, Gilles' feral rage struggling to overwhelm Chisame's years of experience, and then she was slammed down on her back and he was straddling her waist. He swung his fists at her face, but she batted them out of the way; he tried to get his hands around her throat, but she squeezed a spot between his thumb and forefinger and he roared in agony and jerked his hand away. She swung her fist at his face, desperately, and struck him in the nose at the very edge of her range, forcing him to jerk back in surprise as his eyes watered. She lunged to the side, unseating him, and rolled over, nailing him in the side of the head with a wide, sweeping kick. He hit the deck in a groaning heap, but she wasted no time and rolled him over onto his stomach, grabbed him by the hair on the back of his head, and smashed his face into the deck a few times. He was still struggling, so she grabbed one of his arms and twisted it up into a hammer lock and pushed hard. He screamed and she let up a bit.

"Now listen to me," she growled into his ear as her tail lashed violently back and forth. "I have nothing but the highest respect for Misora, what she's been through, what she's going to go through after this trip is over. You though," she said, putting more pressure on his arm, making him tense up, "you are someone I can't stand. I would rip your head off right now if I thought I could get away with it you self important backstabbing little bastard, but you've got a lot of things you have to do too. Thing is, you don't need both arms to do any of them. Understand me? _Do you understand me_?"

Gilles snarled at her, but reluctantly nodded his head. The ship heaved on another wave and his forehead bounced off the deck.

"Good. Now when I let you up, you're going to go over there and get your sword, and you're going to throw it over the side." Gilles started to refuse, so she put more pressure on his arm; he growled in response. "You're going to throw it over the side. You don't need that thing, you've got _another_ sword you can use, right?" she demanded. Gilles went tense and she had a worrisome feeling she might have pushed him too far, but he grudgingly nodded and relaxed a little. It wasn't much, but it was an improvement.

Chisame reluctantly released his arm and climbed off of his back, allowing him to get to his feet. The two of them stood there for a moment, Chisame watching him warily, Gilles refusing to meet her eyes as he rubbed his hurt arm.

"How did you know about that?" he asked softly after a moment.

Chisame sighed as the ship lunged again; they were awfully close to Aetheria...what was the man at the wheel doing, anyway? But...she knew she was just trying to avoid answering him. Gilles was a lot of things...heedless of others, uncaring, cold, possessive...but he was also a loyal friend who worried about Misora all the time, and in time would come to be the one thing keeping death itself from going insane in a quest for vengeance. That was all in the future, though...for now, well...he deserved an answer. But how to tell him? How to explain a near-infinite series of realities, each differing only slightly from the next? How to explain what she was doing, how many of those realities had been destroyed, devoured, reduced to nothingness, each one just as real as any other, each one's loss a tremendous blow...? How many times she had gone through this since she first started, so long ago she had lost track? Gilles was one of the few who wouldn't ask too many questions, but he was also incredibly unstable, his mind held together by the mental equivalent of duct tape and chicken wire. Well, there was always the option of going with what she knew had worked before.

"I read it in a book," she said, lying. He had told her himself when he tried to kill her with it so many cycles ago she had lost count. "The End Time Prophecies. It doesn't matter right now. What matters now is this," she said, reaching into her pocket. "Adeat!"

Gilles jumped back as several floating yellow mice appeared around Chisame. "What...?"

Chisame glanced at one of them. "Scan him, Negi. Same deal as usual."

"Yes, Chiu-sama~!"

Gilles took a few steps back, wide eyed as the cartoonish mouse zipped toward him and paused in front of his face. "Wha-" There was a brief flash and he staggered and collapsed against the base of the crane, clutching his head. "Ugh...what...what was that...?" he demanded.

"Good job, guys. Abeat," Chisame said, dismissing the sprites. She strolled up to Gilles and stood there, looking down at him as her fake cat tail swished around. "How do you feel?"

"Everything tastes...purple..."

"That's to be expected, the effects should wear off soon. Now here," she said, holding out a handkerchief. "Clean up your face, you're getting blood all over the place." He just looked at her, so she dropped the handkerchief on him and turned to go back to her cabin.

"Wait, what did you do to me? And why are you helping me? I almost killed you...!"

Chisame paused and grinned humorlessly as she looked back at him. "You? Kill me? Not even that special sword of yours can kill me. Get some sleep; you'll need it."

* * *

The _Stalker Judith, _the last of the Larkin-built ships, was designed from plans drawn up by the famous mage-turned-ship's-captain who had, on one magnificently stormy night sixty-odd years before, been teleported, ship and all, to Mundus Vetus. Lost and with no way to figure out where he was in the storm with his magic weakened, his ship had struck a reef, broken up, and gone down, leaving him the sole survivor as he clung to a piece of wreckage. He had drifted for only a few hours before being picked up by a passing ship. He made his way to the mainland, where he observed with quiet wonder the war effort going on at the time; his knowledge of ships and sailing led him to a shipyard. What he saw there opened his eyes; ships, big and ugly and yet beautiful in their own way, built in mere _days, _with no magic involved at all...! He was stunned. At that time in Mundus Magicus, all large construction was performed in concert with heavy magic usage to ensure anything taller that it was wide didn't collapse in on itself. Ships were flimsy things, built with an eye for beauty and with a hearty dose of magic simply to keep their flimsy structure from getting crushed under its own weight. But this...! When the war was over, he found his way to Great Britain, and from there met up with other mages and eventually made his way back to Mundus Magicus with revolutionary new ideas about ship construction. Despite those in power scoffing at his plans, he scraped together enough resources to build a shipyard, and his first ship. In the years since that day, he designed over five thousand ships, most of which were eventually built, and had been at his drafting board when he died of old age. The lack of reinforcement magic involved in the construction of his wildly popular new ships began to tell, after a while, and eventually every ship but one sank or was scrapped. The final remaining ship, Larkin's masterpiece, fell into the hands of one of his grandkids. Captain Con Walther took the rapidly aging ship and, with extensive repairs and magical reinforcement, not to mention the replacement of the antique magi-engine with a powerful new dual-engine setup and the inclusion of several turrets for defense from attack by pirates or any of the various creatures that may attack a ship at sea, had turned the ship from a rusting hulk into something to be proud of. However, bad times forced him to turn to smuggling, a job that, surprisingly, he found himself to be extremely good at. Times had gotten better, but he was still smuggling.

* * *

The _Stalker Judith_ spent the next day moving at a steady eighteen knots far outside of their plotted route in order to circle wide away from Aetheria, which had taken an unexpected turn southward, toward them. No ship could weather the waters around the storm for long, and many good ships and men had been lost to the monstrous waves the storm generated.

They lost a lot of time due to the deviation in plans, but the weather changed for the better and they picked up a nice tailwind. The clear, sunny days passed slowly by in a delirium of exasperating monotony, and Misora was seriously considering jumping over board and swimming to their next destination on her own when they finally sighted the coast and sailed into Moeris' harbor.

* * *

"...isn't this a bad idea?" Chisame asked idly as Misora checked her pockets one last time.

"Well obviously," Misora said, grinning. "But I can't send a letter to Cocone when I'm all cooped up in here, you know? Besides, I feel like if I don't get off this ship for a while and stretch my legs, I'm gonna scream."

Chisame reluctantly nodded; she knew exactly what Misora meant. Sure, she could always run off to Hodge's bar if it got bad enough, but that would mean letting Misora get out of her sight...a dangerous prospect even in the best of times. But in any case, making a stop in _Moeris_ of all places was a terrible idea, especially since Misora had already been involved in an assassination there. The city was huge; along with Tristan, Vulcan, Sirenum, and a few others, it was easily one of the greatest cities of Mundus Magicus. It wasn't as big as Megalomesembria, but then again, what city was?

* * *

"You have eighteen hours," Captain Con Walther said as Misora and Chisame stood on the dock looking back up at him.

"Eighteen, huh?" Misora said idly. "I wonder what there is to do around here?"

"Moeris is host to hundreds of small parks and dozens of museums," the captain said. He grinned. "But I think you'll probably be looking for one of the dockside bars."

"Heh! You know me so well already~!"

"Just be safe! I don't want to be stuck here because you got yourself arrested," he shouted back as they walked away.

Chisame shook her head and spoke, cutting off Misora's retort. "Don't worry, I'll have her back on time."

The captain looked down at her thoughtfully for a moment, and nodded. "Yes, I think you will. Good luck you two! And remember, eighteen hours!"

* * *

"So, whatcha wanna do?" Misora asked as she eyed the massive cliffs looming over the northern side of the harbor. There were little houses built into the sides; she wondered how anyone could stand to live in a place like that...? She patted her pocket to check that her letter to Cocone was still there and started walking again.

"I don't have anything particular in mind," Chisame replied, easily keeping up with Misora. "They probably won't let us into a bar, you know," she said after a moment.

"Huh? Why not?"

Chisame gave Misora a disbelieving look and gestured at her body, which looked exactly as it had when she was fourteen and had been one of the students in Negi's first class.

"...oh. Well that sucks," Misora said, rolling her eyes as she looked around at the people crowding the streets. Moeris had a very Mediterranean feel, she decided. It sort of reminded her of a certain town on the coast of Italy...

"C'mon, let's find a place to mail that letter," Chisame said, smirking. With any luck, she could make the city appear so boring that Misora couldn't wait to get back to the ship...

* * *

Twelve hours after depositing the letter with the correct shipping office, Chisame had resorted to stealing Misora's watch and setting the time ahead. It was a stupid idea and didn't work anyway, as Chisame reluctantly admitted to herself; she should have known better than that. She glanced over at where Misora was acting oblivious in front of a few of the locals who were looking for a little fun. She realized after a moment that her tail was lashing back and forth furiously, and she felt as if she should be somewhere else, taking care of something... She looked over toward the harbor, but her view was blocked by the buildings that ringed the small park they were currently wasting time in. Something... The sun was in the process of going down, splashing the sky with a multitude of brilliant colors. It would be dark before too long, and already the seedier element was making its presence known. Quietly the crowds on the streets were changing from normal people doing normal things to strange and dangerous sorts sauntering around and lounging against lampposts and walls. The few regular people she saw still out walked in small groups with hastened steps, almost running past the places where the dark mouths of the city's many alleys opened onto the streets.

It was time to go.

She glanced over at Misora again and was a little alarmed to see she was starting to draw a crowd with her friendly, energetic, and slightly stupid demeanor. There was no getting her out of this sort of situation without resulting to drastic measures. In that single thing, Misora was always predictable. So, with no other option, Chisame sighed and sprayed some breath freshener in her mouth. If she was going to be forced to do this, she might as well do it right.

She pocketed the small bottle of breath spray and stalked over toward where Misora was currently beguiling the local young criminal element with (shockingly enough) exaggerated stories of her exploits thus far. Several of them looked as if they were preparing to take her home with them when Chisame slinked up.

"Misora..."

Misora glanced over at her, a little surprised to see her standing so close. "Heya Chi-I mean Dani!" she corrected herself, remembering at the last moment that Chisame was currently hiding behind an assumed name. "What's up? Is something wrong? I mean you look really—mmf!" Misora's mind locked up when their lips met. "Mm! Mmm...? Mmmm..."

Chisame, thoroughly in control now, turned around, still holding Misora tightly in a full-body hug and liplock, and shot her most vicious, possessive death glare at the guys who had been flirting with Misora only a moment before. Several of them backed away, admitting defeat while others were, much like Misora herself, simply too stunned to react to what they were seeing. Recognizing the problem for what it was, Chisame did the only thing she could do in this sort of situation: play it to the hilt. She came up for air for a moment, gave Misora just enough time to gasp for breath, and then dove back in and wrapped her tail around Misora's upper leg. Their remaining audience just stared at them, mouths open, minds seemingly stuck in an infinite loop, so she pushed the envelope even further. The tip of her tail moved higher and slipped up into Misora's shorts.

For one brief, incredibly interesting moment, nothing happened.

Then Misora let out a startled 'meep' sort of sound.

Five seconds later, a dozen youths had passed out due to massive blood loss by way of the nostrils, and Chisame was dragging a dazed Misora behind her down the street, already a block away from the scene.

* * *

Chisame peeked around the edge of the building at the ship, and ducked her head back before anyone could see her. She turned to Misora, who was still in a dreamy sort of half-daze, and growled in frustration.

There were official looking people swarming over the _Stalker Judith_. A freighter that did a healthy business hauling cargo that, due to various circumstances, was mostly of dubious legality. A smuggler's ship, in other words. Through which various officials were currently searching.

"...I think we may have lost our ride," she said quietly. Misora replied with a dreamy little giggle as she swayed gently from side to side.

"...I didn't know you could kiss like that..." she mumbled drunkenly for the fifth time. "...but if you poke me _there_ again I'll kill you~" She trailed off in a drunken sort of giggle, and Chisame ignored her.

Chisame peeked out again and could see the various crew members gathered on the dock, along with the other members of Misora's group. Gil in particular looked ready to fight, but seemed to be holding himself together somehow. If he had learned anything from their little scuffle just after leaving Aris, it might be because he was afraid of gaining Chisame's ire; she somehow doubted that.

She was in the process of calculating what it would take to replace whatever she would lose by abandoning the ship and Misora's friends to their fates when what was, judging by his uniform, the head official, climbed out of the cargo hold, glanced the ship over forward and aft, and moved over to the ramp. When he was again on the dock, he spoke a few words to the captain Chisame couldn't hear, shook his head, nodded, and strolled away, followed by his confused and arguing underlings.

Chisame ducked back into the shadows of the alley she was hiding in with Misora as they passed and waited a moment before peeking out to make sure the officials were out of sight. When it was clear, she darted out of the alley, dragging the still-dazed and giggling Misora with her as the crew members clambered aboard. Gilles spotted the two of them coming and waited at the bottom of the ramp, but Ava, upon seeing Misora's condition, came running to help.

"What's wrong with her? Is she hurt?" the woman asked, bewildered.

"She'll be fine, I just kissed her," Chisame said matter of factly. Ava gasped and Chisame glanced over at her; the woman was looking at her in astonishment, blushing heavily. "It wasn't anything like that, I'll explain later. Come on, we have to go _now_."

* * *

"Come on, we have to go _now!_" Captain Con Walther bellowed as his crew set about making the ship ready to sail. Chisame walked up to stand beside him.

"I'll be blunt: why do you still have your ship?" she asked, her tone neutral as she looked out over the deck.

Con took a moment before answering, and when he did it wasn't the answer she had been hoping for.

"I don't know, and that's what bothers me. I wish I could say I at least had the chance to bribe them, but they saw what we're carrying and let us go anyway. I hope you didn't leave anything ashore, because we are leaving _now, _and I don't think I'm coming back for a long, long time."

Chisame glanced over at where Gilles stood with his arms crossed, watching. They locked eyes, and she stared until he turned and walked away.

* * *

Fate felt a smile threatening to form as he listened to the harbormaster's report. "I see...it is a good thing you didn't try to arrest them; there isn't a prison there that could hold them. Where were they planning to go next?"

The man on the other end hesitated. 'They mentioned Zephyria, but...'

Fate let the man's pause linger for a moment. He knew they weren't going to Zephyria; none of them were that stupid. "I see. Thank you for your report, you will be rewarded for your loyalty." He ended the call and stood up.

"Is it time, Fate-sama?" Shirabe asked.

Fate looked up at her, then to the others, who had finally been assembled. Kagetaro the dark mage, the demon Foloren Doubt, Tregani Mullin the professional mercenary, Rhett Reaker and Raddyn Sayard, Tregani's partners-in-crime, and Chaser Felix, one of the Great Vampire Lords. Six of the toughest, strongest people he could gather on such short notice... He was probably going overboard in his preparations, but one of the people he was hunting had killed numerous agents, and another had been capable of dropping a mountain on him. There was no telling what the others could do.

"It's time."

* * *

"I don't like this at all," Gilles said to the others as they all stood in one of the narrow empty spaces in the cargo hold created to allow the crew to more easily deal with the cargo. Misora and Chisame were not present.

Sir Robert grunted. "While I feel that the girl, 'Dani', as she calls herself, is not being entirely truthful, I do not believe she means us any harm."

Sarah crossed her arms and cocked her head to the side. "Yeah, I don't really get that feeling from her either. Are you _sure_ you didn't break anything when you fell and hit your head two days out of port, Gilles?"

"I'm telling you-!"

"She's not the one you people need to be worrying about," Scarlet said quietly.

"Scarlet is right," Ruden said, his low voice commanding attention for the simple fact that he rarely used it. "What about what happened in Moeris?"

"When they searched the ship?" Sarah asked. Ruden nodded.

"W-well, maybe she-"

"She didn't have anything to do with that," Ava said firmly. "We all saw the way she looked at the harbormaster. She didn't want to be seen by _anyone_."

"Then why did she go out with Misora like that? She was trying to lure her away to get rid of us...!"

Scarlet smirked. "What, are you jealous, Gilles? I'm sure Misora would kiss you too if you just asked." She grinned wide as he abruptly turned away to hide his embarrassment, and the others snickered. Even Sir Robert was forced to hide a grin.

"That's not—"

"That's not the issue here," Ruden said, again interrupting everyone. "Gilles, what you are forgetting is this: _she came back_. If Dani had wanted to take Misora away, she would have alerted the harbormaster and fled, simple as that. You're paranoid."

Gilles fumed for a moment; he _really _didn't want to admit that the taciturn man had a point. But couldn't any of them see...? It was obvious the so-called 'Dani Ellesane', catgirl from Zephyria-nyan~ was lying to all of them! She was going to get them all killed...! He looked from face to face, and his hopes fell as they shook their heads or looked away. Even Ava, who was kind to anyone she didn't want to kill, refused to meet his eyes. Ruden put his arm around her shoulders and the two of them left. Sir Robert shrugged and followed, and Scarlet sauntered away as well, leaving only Sarah behind.

"Are you going to laugh at me too?" Gilles asked sullenly.

Sarah shook her head. "No, but I think you have the wrong idea about Dani. She's a good kid, I can tell. There's a lot she's hiding from us, but she's not a bad person. Just give it some time, Gilles. See how things turn out. If it turns out she tricked us all, we'll just kick her ass and be done with it." Gilles sighed wearily and she paused a moment. "Now come on, you need some sleep." She grinned. "You zombie."

Gilles rolled his eyes and shook his head, but couldn't help but grin at that. Zombie? Ha! Maybe that would be an improvement... He heaved another sigh. If even Sarah said Dani was a good person, maybe he really _was _just overreacting...? A memory of her breath, hot on the side of his breath, as she said she would rip his head off then and there if she thought she could get away with it flitted through his mind. Was she dangerous? Of course. But then again, so were they all. But if this 'Dani' planned on hurting Misora...

Well, he would stop her before she had a chance.

* * *

_**Author's Notes**: ...I know I said on my LJ that this would be the climax of the Misora arc, but...it's not. This chapter's already gotten way too long, so I decided to cut it off here. The climax of the Misora arc will be next time, get ready for it!_

_And now, some short profiles of the group Fate's just put together._

* * *

Fate – Surprisingly Reasonable Villain

Born - ?/?/?

Height - 5'10"

Likes – Coffee

Dislikes – Innocent people suffering

Little Known Facts – He makes a terrible villain when someone's not telling him what to do

* * *

Shirabe - The Last Wood Sprite

Born - ?/?/?

Height - 5'6"

Likes – Fate-sama, playing the violin

Dislikes – insolent fools

Little Known Facts – She really is the last of the wood sprites; the rest were killed in raids or died of abuse and overwork while in slavery.

* * *

Foloren Doubt – Wandering Demon

Born - ?/?/?

Height - 6'2"

Likes – Seeing the world, interacting with people, children, little puppies

Dislikes – nothing much

Little Known Facts – While he seems like a nice guy, he won't hesitate to rip apart anyone who crosses him.

* * *

Tregani Mullin – Born Leader

Born - 7/30/1976

Height - 6'

Likes – The mercenary life

Dislikes – Involving innocents in warfare

Little Known Facts – He is a natural leader; others tend to find themselves following him through no conscious choice of their own.

* * *

Raddyn Sayard – Psycho for Hire

Born - 6/7/1981

Height - 5'10"

Likes – Women, alcohol, traveling

Dislikes – Having to make tough decisions, holding grudges

Little Known Facts – He was hanged by a vengeful man for crimes against his family, but somehow survived and was later cut down by Tregani.

* * *

Rhett Reaker – Hot Blooded Swordsmith

Born - 3/11/1977

Height - 6'1"

Likes – Swords, Blacksmithing, Life

Dislikes – Working off the clock

Little Known Facts – He's not so much a villain as someone hired by a villain, not that he has any trouble doing villainous things when asked.

* * *

Kagetaro – Dark Magic Master

Born - ?/?/?

Height - 6'8"

Likes – Twisting the lives and motivations of the innocent to his dark purposes. A nice cup of coffee once in a while isn't bad either.

Dislikes – Meddlesome kids

Little Known Facts – He has had two different students over the years; both have become very powerful with dark magic.

* * *

Chaser Felix – Great Vampire Lord # 2

Born - ?/?/?

Height - 6'4"

Likes – Blood, vengeance, and death

Dislikes – Those who don't respect True Power

Little Known Facts – He was a good friend of fellow Great Vampire Lord Dexter Marlowe, who was killed by Misora in Rome (see How To Kill Zombies, on this site)


	34. Ch 32a Misora in the Magic World, pt 6a

**Still Waters 3, Chapter 32a, Misora in the Magic World, Part 6a**

* * *

_Somewhere in the Etheran Ocean, Just West of Moeris_

* * *

The _Stalker Judith_ took a winding path west from the port of Moeris as if heading back the way it had come in order to throw off pursuit, then turned abruptly south on its way out of the normal shipping lanes. They avoided approaching any of the many, many populated islands that lay off the coast, and finally, the next day, entered the open ocean. The long days of sailing passed with little incident, and the _Stalker Judith_ soon arrived at the small port of Rudaux, where it bid goodbye to its unusual passengers.

* * *

Chisame glanced back at the departing ship that had borne her as a passenger for so long, and sighed. With that ship went the last of what was likely to be her peace of mind for some time to come. She saw Gilles looking suspiciously at her, as he had done throughout the entire trip, and sighed again. With any luck she could refrain from beating the crap out of him, but the odds weren't good.

"Bye! It was a fun trip!" Ava shouted from the end of the dock as she waved at the departing ship. Chisame could see about a dozen of the crew members gathered at the stern waving back at the friendly woman. When they were too far out to distinguish any details, Ava stopped waving and Ruden quietly moved to her side.

"Well it was fun while it lasted, but our pleasure cruise is over," Misora said as she planted her hands on her hips and turned to survey the town. Rudaux wasn't much to look at, just a few thousand ramshackle buildings wedged in between two mountains that just so happened to possess a natural harbor, but it was a good place to avoid attracting attention if one wanted to operate under the radar. According to Captain Con Walther, it was a prime spot to obtain restricted oni goods for smuggling purposes...or at least it had been up until the new trade agreements were signed the year before. Now without its primary source of income, the town was quickly shrinking, returning once again to its fishing village roots.

"So what do you want to do?" Chisame, still wearing her cat girl disguise, asked as she glanced at Misora.

"Hmm..." Misora said, glancing over at where Ava was trying to dry her eyes after saying goodbye to her new friends aboard the _Stalker Judith_. "Hmmmmm..." She glanced over at Gilles, who stood beside her. "Hmmmmmmmm..." She looked over at Sir Robert, Sarah, and Scarlet, the three of whom got along surprisingly well. Sarah proclaimed something, planting a hand on her chest as she made a superior smirk, Sir Robert snorted into his hand, and Scarlet burst into laughter, something Misora had thought, when she first met the woman, that she would never see. "Heh, I don't know. These are the oni lands, right? I don't know what it's like around here; does anyone have a map?"

One of the rough looking men lounging about on the docks that had only last year been busy twenty four hours a day stood up and strolled over. "Hullo, m'name's Bulger. Did I hear you right? Yer askin' for a map?"

Misora glanced at the man, ignoring Gilles as he tensed up. "That's right. Do you have one I could look at?"

The man snorted in amusement and shook his head. "You won't be needing any map around here. Travel's restricted; you have to move out with a caravan or you could get in a lot of trouble." The man glanced around at the others. "Well, you lot look like you could take care of yerselves, but all the same it's better to do it the legal way if ya don't want to attract attention."

"A caravan, is it?" Chisame asked. "Are there many roads out of here?"

Bulger shook his head. "For foreigners, just the one," he said, jerking his thumb toward the east side of town. "Capital's that way, next caravan pulls out tomorrow morning, and it'll take ya two days to get to Vairocana. If yer lookin to lose yerselves in the oni lands, you'd better be careful or you could end up dead or in jail."

Gilles spoke up suddenly. "What about you? You seem familiar with all this, have you been here long?"

Bulger smirked toothily and nodded, pulling off his ugly boxy knit cap of a sort that he had seen many people wearing to reveal a pair of pointy white oni horns poking out of his greasy black hair. "All my life." He put the cap back on his head. "Now just stick to the roads and stay out of the back country. I'm a town oni so I don't really care, but those mountain oni don't take well to outsiders." He turned to go, seemed to think better of it, and turned back. "You lot take care; there're a lot of dangerous sorts lurkin' around the roads nowadays. Strange airships zippin around, people askin' questions...just the other day someone asked me if I'd seen a group of seven or eight foreigners, all human but with one o' them cat half breeds with 'em," he said, looking meaningfully at Chisame.

"Oh?" Gilles asked, his tone suddenly sharp and dangerous.

Bulger looked at him with his eyes narrowed. "Don't take that tone with me, boy. I've been fightin' men who'd eat a kid like you fer lunch since b'fore you were born."

"So why the warning?" Chisame asked quietly, interrupting the growing tension before it could erupt.

The oni looked down at her curiously. "B'cause I don't like them pokin around in oni affairs, that's why. Rich foreigners comin in, demandin to know things and trampin around like they own the place, well...it sort of sets an oni off, ya know? You lot, though...I don't know why, but you lot seem like good people. I like you guys. You seem, I dunno, _honest_. Like yer real people. But you guys watch out; not every oni out there's as nice a guy as me."

Misora thanked the oni for his advice and they left him there on the dock as they headed out into the town.

"So, what did you make of him?" Chisame asked when they were out of earshot as she walked beside Misora. Gilles glared at her from the other side of Misora, but she ignored him.

"He seemed honest enough," Misora said. "In that 'I'd trust him with my life but not my money or my wife' sort of way."

Chisame nodded. She had gotten the same sort of feeling from the oni dock worker. A person who was basically good, but had little problem 'stretching' the law.

"Come on, let's find a place to sleep," Scarlet said quietly, startling the three of them; they hadn't heard her approach.

* * *

A few questions revealed that of the towns seven hotels, two had been burned down, three had been closed due to lack of business, and the remaining two were booked solid. They eventually settled for squatting in one of the many abandoned houses on the outskirts of town.

* * *

Morning found the group woken up at the crack of dawn by a rooster's crowing. Ava and Ruden, having laid their bedrolls out side by side, woke to find themselves clinging together with their legs entangled and Ava pressing Ruden's face into her cleavage. She was still blushing when they sat down to a cold breakfast a short time later, and Ruden seemed more quiet than usual.

"Okay, first things first, we need to join up with that caravan heading to...what was it? Vairocana?" Misora said, glancing at Gilles, who nodded as he took a bite of a stale biscuit.

"Vairocana is the capital. It would be quicker traveling alone; but like Bulger said, travel is heavily regulated here. We are trapped on the main roads." He made a face at the thought and took a drink of water from his canteen. "We may have made a slight mistake in coming here," he added, looking at Misora.

Scarlet looked uptight, so Misora turned to her. "What do you think about it?"

The woman frowned and looked down at her plate. "I don't like this. Like Gilles said, we'll be trapped on that road for two days. But there isn't really any choice..." She shrugged helplessly.

Misora cocked an eyebrow. It was obvious Scarlet didn't like the area. Was it the oni? She knew some people didn't trust them because of their demonic ancestry and the whole human-kidnapping thing from back in the day, but times had changed and they didn't do that kind of thing anymore, right? She didn't _think_ they did, anyway. Not that she was aware of. Hopefully.

She turned to Sir Robert. "How about you?"

He glanced up, looking older than usual, no doubt due to the rough sleeping conditions. "I have no quarrel with the oni. They are just like any other people." He turned his attention back to his plate and continued eating.

"Well I don't care either, as long as no one tries to start a fight," Sarah said after a moment's silence. She gulped down a cup of coffee and stood up, stretching. "But if they do, I'll punch their lights out, oni or not."

Gilles finished his breakfast and stood up as well. "We should hurry. The caravan leaves in an hour or so, and we will probably have to fill out some paperwork, if travel is as restricted as it seems."

Misora looked down at her plate thoughtfully, and nodded. "You're right. Okay everyone, let's be out of here in fifteen minutes!"

* * *

The caravan gathering site was easy enough to find due to the long line of foreigners gathered at the spot, waiting to get their papers inspected. A few inquiries and a few drachmas later, the eight of them gathered at the end of the line with their very own illegally acquired documents.

"So...is the whole country this corrupt, or is it just this town?" Sarah asked, eyeing her brand new false ID.

"Just the town, I think," Chisame said absently. She hadn't ever been in _this_ town before, but the rest of the country had seemed pretty tight whenever she'd had occasion to pass through. She didn't like to deal with the oni if she could avoid it; they were too stubborn, just like the elves but less prone to discussion over their disagreements. There were always exceptions of course, but when the phrases 'oni tough' and 'oni stubborn' were in common use the world over, they had to have come from _somewhere_...

The group fell silent as the line moved forward, bringing them closer and closer to the man checking everyone's papers. When it was Misora's turn, she stepped forward and confidently handed over her ID. The official looked at it for a moment, then cocked an eyebrow as if to say 'Oh come _on_ now...!'

"Um..."

"Ahem," the official said, flashing the international sign for 'money, please'. "There seems to be a slight discrepancy with your identification..." he said, giving her a pointed look.

Misora just looked at him blankly for a moment, then glanced back at the others, then looked at the man again. "Oh!" she said suddenly as she fumbled with the coinpurse she kept for just such an occasion. It 'accidentally' slipped from her hand and fell to the ground, spilling coinage here and there.

"Oh my. I seem to have dropped my coin purse. Can you help me pick it up?" she asked, giving the man an overexaggerated conspiratorial wink. He rolled his eyes and nodded, and they both got down on their hands and knees to gather the coins. When the money was recollected, Misora hefted the coin purse in her hand thoughtfully. 'Eight coins for eight travelers, huh?' she thought. "Thanks for the help. Are our papers in order?"

The official nodded. "Indeed they are! Now, if you will join the other travelers over this way..."

When the official left them alone to take care of some final business before they set off, Scarlet rolled her eyes and heaved a sigh. "Smooth, Misora. Reeeal smooth."

"Heh, whatever works, you know? Besides, now he'll think I'm an idiot and if something comes up, I'll have that much of an edge over him~"

The others just looked at her.

"What?"

* * *

The caravan was made up of several dozen large military-style trucks, apparently transported over from Earth and fitted with a cloth cover stretched over a light metal frame on the back to shield the passengers from the sun. The countryside was hot and dry, the coarse grass broken with sharp upthrusts of reddish stone, the remains of some ancient war that had ravaged the land. It was a hard, bleak landscape, and yet something about it called out to Misora. As cheesy as she knew it sounded, it inspired a fierce, wild joy in her heart. Perhaps it was the sheer toughness required for even basic survival in this place, but it awoke old instincts she hadn't even known she possessed. She wanted to go out there in that broken, rugged landscape and just _run_. She didn't quite understand it, but a quick glance around at the others told her she wasn't the only one feeling it. Much to her surprise, Sir Robert of all people had a wild look in his eyes and an odd sort of half grin as he looked out at the wilderness. He realized she was looking at him after a moment and grinned sheepishly, and yet turned his gaze back outside.

* * *

The hours passed slowly and the scenery changed but little; the rocky upthrusts of land faded away to rolling plains cut by vast chasms so deep their bottoms were hidden in shadow, gnarled and misshapen trees of a type she was unfamiliar with growing around the edges.

"More damage from the demon wars," one of the other travelers said.

"Pretty old then, huh?" Misora asked as they crossed a bridge built over a particularly large one. "Must've been a pretty strong mage to make a hole like that," she said idly.

The man snorted. "It wasn't a mage or even a demon that did that!"

"Oh no, don't get him started on _that_ again!" one of the man's companions said, rolling his eyes.

"Get started on what?" Misora asked.

"It was the secret weapon of the oni race!" the first man said, butting back in before his friend could deride his theory any further. "A giant floating island, just like old Ostia! All the races had one of their own back then!"

"Bah, that's just an old wives' tale!"

Misora looked back out as the two started arguing. Well, flying-island-weapon-thing or not, whatever had made those giant gashes in the land was something she didn't want to go up against. Something like that could wipe out a whole army without a problem.

They passed the last of the chasms and she settled back on the bench as the land switched to gently rolling hills covered in uneven tufts of yellowing grass.

* * *

Night came and they made camp on a small fortified hill protected with some simple barrier spells. Misora wouldn't have trusted anyone's safety to something as simple as that back in the Cerberus Forest, but judging from the talk she'd heard, magic use was quite rare here in the oni lands; the oni as a race weren't built to deal with magic with the ease of humans or elves or even youkai, but rather focused on brute physical strength and stamina in combat more often than not, and were generally stronger than humans by several orders of magnitude. In addition, there was a distinct lack of dangerous wildlife. There were supposed to be dragons in the mountains, but Misora hadn't seen a single sign of anything nearby save for the occasional snake of fieldmouse. Nevertheless, in spite of the locals' reassurances Misora's group unanimously decided to stand watch in shifts through the night, which ultimately proved pleasantly unexciting, especially considering what they had been through up to that point.

* * *

"So how long until we hit Vairocana?" Misora asked no one in particular as they rumbled along in the truck the next morning. She twisted back and forth on the bench until her back popped; had slept crooked the night before and couldn't quite get comfortable.

"Should be...what, ten hours? Twelve?" the flying-oni-weapon guy from the day before said. His friend nodded.

"Yeah, ten or twelve hours unless something comes up."

"Huh..." Misora said, looking outside. The landscape had taken a turn for the better, she decided. It wasn't nearly as wild (or quite so charming) now as it had been before, but it was still wild and rugged in a way she had never seen back home. If anything, it sort of reminded her of a cowboy movie. She almost expected to see a cowboy or a bunch of indians ride up and pause on a ridgetop somewhere. In any case, the grass was greener, there were occasional bunches of trees or shrubs, and several times they crossed rivers or passed near small dry lake beds. The land wasn't thriving, but it wasn't dead or desolate.

* * *

The string of trucks rolled to a stop at a way station just outside the capital, where their papers would again be checked for authenticity. Misora climbed out first and groaned as she stretched, popping her joints after the long, boring ride. "Oh _man_ that bench was uncomfortable," she said as she lifted her hands up high and leaned over backward, her back popping loudly.

Sir Robert climbed stiffly out next, digging a fist into his back. "...that was quite unpleasant," he said shortly.

The others followed suit, and the trucks drove around to another area to check in and undergo maintenance, leaving the travelers on their own. The flying-oni-weapon guy wandered off with his friend, and Misora found herself left alone with the members of her group. "Okay guys, we're here. What do you want to do first?"

Scarlet frowned as she eyed an unusual airship that was in the process of getting towed into a special hanger in a small airfield nearby. "Remember how I said I don't like this place back in Rudaux? Well I _really_ don't like _this _place," she said.

Misora shook her head and laughed. "Oh come on, you're just being paranoid. Come on, let's go see what we can find," she said, looking at Chisame.

Chisame just shrugged and followed along silently as Misora led off toward the city gate. Gilles hurried to catch up, leaving the others behind.

Sir Robert glanced at Sarah and Scarlet. "Shall we go?"

Sarah grinned and shrugged. "Sure. I'm kinda hungry...I wonder what kind of food they make here?"

"Ava and I will see about supplies," Ruden said as Ava took his arm. Sir Robert and Sarah watched the two of them stroll toward the gate before turning to Scarlet.

"So what about you?" Sarah asked. "Care to join us for some food?"

Scarlet shook her head. "No, just go enjoy yourselves. I'll...I'll catch up later," she said absently, cocking her head like a bird as she seemed to stare at something far off in the distance.

Sarah shrugged. "Whatever, it's your loss."

* * *

"So, what's up with Scarlet? Any ideas?" Misora asked as she walked along a wide, booth-lined street.

"She probably has some connection with this place," Chisame supplied as she glanced around. She felt someone watching her, but for once Gilles wasn't the culprit. "Just give her some time to get used to it."

"Hmm."

They walked along the busy street, very much aware of the way the locals were hurrying about their errands with their heads down, refusing to meet their eyes. At the very first opportunity, the three of them ducked into an alley and moved to stand in a shadowed alcove so they could speak in private.

Misora leaned back against the wall, crossed her arms, and sighed. "So, what's with the tension here?"

Gilles looked back and forth down the alley to make sure they weren't being followed. "Perhaps this was a bad idea," he said.

"Maybe someone recognized us back in Rudaux...?" Chisame suggested. "We should be careful, but as long as we stay in small groups we should be fine."

Gilles growled in frustration. "We should never have come here," he said bitterly, clenching his fists.

"All we can do is be careful," Chisame said, injecting as much confidence as she could into her voice. "I didn't take the time to find you just to let you die here, did I?" she asked, smirking confidently at Misora, who shrugged and grinned in return. "Now come on, let's see what we can see. Gilles? You go that way and see what you can find. It shouldn't be too hard to find us again in an hour."

Gilles gave her a long, hard look, but ultimately nodded. He had to reluctantly admit that while he was quite good in a group, he was far and away at his best when working alone. Also, the lack of a group would impart a sense of privacy, real or not, when he was asking questions of the locals.

"In an hour," he said. "At the east end of the market."

Misora nodded. "An hour from now at the east end of the market, gotcha. See ya then, Gil," she said, grinning at him.

Chisame just looked at him. "Don't get yourself killed," she stated.

Gilles gave her an odd look, then slipped away down the alley.

* * *

"I am _so_ gonna eat everything this food stand's got!" Sarah said excitedly as she plopped down on the food stand's bench. "Hey, mister! I'll take one of everything!"

Sir Robert grinned crookedly as he gently lowered himself to the bench; his back and rear were still paining him after that long ride in the truck. "I will take the house special, if you please."

The guy running the stand nodded and turned to the fryer behind him to get to work.

"Good idea, getting the house special," a man seated further down the bench said.

"Oh?" Sir Robert asked, glancing at the guy. He was quite unusual; a little over six feet tall with bright red hair on his head in this land of short, dark haired people; the long, slightly curved scimitar strapped to his back in an odd half-sheath was rather strange as well. Sir Robert had never seen a sword quite like it; if anything, it resembled the heavy two handed elven scimitars that were once favored in the region around Elfenhof, yet was distinctly different, as if someone had seen a picture of the design and liked it enough to make their own version.

"Yeah. This guy's pretty good, a fitting chef to make your last meal."

Sarah's head jerked up and she came half up off the bench at that, but Sir Robert lifted his hand and she reluctantly lowered herself back down. "_My_ last meal?" he asked, locking eyes with the stranger.

The man nodded and grinned in a not unfriendly manner. "Yeah, your last meal. See, I'm supposed to try and catch you two, but they gave me the go ahead to kill you if you looked like trouble." He paused to eat another bite of noodles. "And to tell the truth, I'm not sure I'm good enough to take both you guys alive, so..."

Sarah's gaze darted around the street, trying to catch sight of anyone who might be watching, waiting to jump in at the first opportunity. There was no one. The locals seemed to be picking up on the tension in the air as the stranger and Sir Robert stared at each other though, and a quick glance showed the owner of the stand was terribly frightened, judging by the way his hands were shaking as he prepared the food. She started to edge off the end of the bench, but the stranger spoke up.

"I wouldn't do that, girlie," he said. "If you start something right here I'll have to kill you and you guys won't get to try this guy's best work," he said, nodding at the cook, who was absolutely terrified.

"So, do I have your word you will not attack until we have finished our meal?" Sir Robert said suddenly.

The man looked at him, cocked an eyebrow, and nodded. "Sure. It'd be a sin to waste food this good. Besides, I'm on a break right now. So, what're your names? I'm Reaker, Rhett Reaker," he said in a friendly manner. "I'm a swordsmith, but times being what they are..." he said, giving a shrug as if to say 'what are ya gonna do?'

Sir Robert looked at him for a long, long moment, and snorted in amusement.

"What are you laughing at?" Sarah demanded. "I don't see anything funny here!"

Sir Robert glanced at her and Sarah was shocked to see his devil-may-care grin, taking years off of his once-tired, aged face. "Now this is someone after my own heart," he said to her, then looked back at Rhett. "So, who hired you?"

Rhett smirked and shook his head. "Can't say. You know how it is." He turned back to his bowl. "It's fine if you don't want to tell me your names; I'm sure the boss knows, at least. Anyway, your food's almost done; you won't _believe_ how good it is."

* * *

Ava and Ruden walked along the street arm in arm, taking shy glances at each other when each thought the other wasn't looking.

Ava paused after a moment to look at a pretty dress in a window, and Ruden moved to stand beside her.

"It's so pretty..." she said, looking at the ruffles. "My big sister had one a lot like this when I was little, I thought it was the most beautiful dress I had ever seen..."

Ruden realized he was staring at her and quickly looked away, embarrassed. He knew how ridiculous the situation was; he was a former pit fighter, he had killed people with his bare hands and had a career spanning _years_ in the pits when most fighters lasted a month or two before getting maimed. He had survived cold blooded torture, fighting dragons and griffons and all manner of magical beasts, he had fought powerful mages in single combat and won. He could knock a man out with a single blow, he could unbend a horseshoe with relative ease, he could bench press Ava herself one handed, if he wanted to...and yet here he was, blushing like a schoolboy with his first crush. The absurdity of the situation was enough to make him feel like an idiot, and yet...he watched Ava's cute face light up as she spoke animatedly about her sister's dress, about how pretty it was, how she had always wanted one like it...

"I-I'll buy it for you," he said, not realizing he had even spoken until the words were already out of his mouth. He almost jerked in surprise at the shock in Ava's eyes, which swiftly changed to glee.

"Oh _thank you_! Thank you thank you thank you!" she said, hugging him tight.

"I-it's no problem," he said, awkwardly putting his arms around her, being extra careful to not squeeze her too hard; she was so much smaller than he was, so fragile...he felt as if she might break if he wasn't careful. Then, because it was true, he mumbled "I would do anything for you..." He abruptly released her and the two of them stood there, blushing furiously as they looked anywhere but at each other.

"I-I-I'll g-go in and ask about it," she said, blushing heavily as she stumbled into the store. Ruden stood there at the window for a moment, looking at the dress and trying to imagine how Ava would look in it, when the hairs on the back of his neck started tingling. He threw himself to the ground, just missing the invisible _thing_ that ripped through the place where he had been standing a moment before. The street exploded upward where the stray attack hit, throwing a few of the locals high in the air, and he darted behind the corner of a building in the chaos, trying to spot his attacker.

Ava came running out of the store, looking around wildly for him as she called out his name. "Ruden! Ruden! Are you all right? What was it?"

A bit of movement on a roof across the street caught his attention before he could respond, and he spotted his attacker, a horned demihuman girl holding a violin. She looked down at him, looked over at Ava, and raised her bow to the strings.

Ruden acted on instinct and broke out into a run, his eyes locked on Ava's as she looked frantically for him among the panicking crowd. "Ava!" She looked at him, they locked eyes, and he screamed at her again. "Ava, _run_...!"

Ruden, veteran of more pit fights than anyone had any right to have experienced, made a fatal mistake. He heard the sharp squeal of the demihuman girl's instrument in the second before the ground exploded in front of Ava, throwing her back in a rain of debris. Time seemed to slow as she was thrown screaming through the air, pelted with the jagged remnants of the road as it exploded upward. She hit the ground and bounced, eyes pressed shut and teeth clenched in pain as the back of her head struck the pavement. She rolled across the pavement, limbs loose and flailing like a rag doll, and he screamed. He screamed, a wild, feral sound filled with despair, and the crowd disappeared, the buildings disappeared, he was left there, kneeling over the girl he loved as she lay broken and injured in the street, blood flowing from a dozen shrapnel wounds. He was so wrapped up in his beloved's pain that he didn't even notice the man strolling up behind him. The ring of steel being pulled from a scabbard barely even registered in his mind, but then the man's sword drove down into his back, all the way through him as he roared in agony, and down into Ava's body below. She gasped and snapped back to startled consciousness, blood bubbling from between her lips, and then the man withdrew his sword and Ruden collapsed on top of her, their blood merging together in a pool on the street surface under them.

The man ignored the terrified screams of the locals; he swiped the blood off his sword and returned it to its scabbard as the demihuman girl moved up to stand beside him.

"Ruden and Ava Grace," the man said wonderingly. "Well, that was easy. Two down, six to go, right Shirabe?"

The demihuman girl nodded. "That is correct. Perhaps we should ensure it is over...?" she said, looking down at the two. Ruden was already unconscious, but Ava was looking up at them stunned and wide eyed, trying to speak through the blood in her mouth.

Tregani Mullin shook his head. "No. I know where my blade went. It'll be a while, but there's no recovering from a wound like that," he said. "Let's go find Fate."

* * *

Scarlet could tell something was wrong. The whole city had taken on a heavy, otherworldly feeling, as if one of _them _was there. She shuddered at the thought. Demons...! She had spent some time trapped by a demon once, back before she had died. It had kept her alive for years, teasing her with opportunities for escape, only to show it had all been a trick just when her freedom had seemed ensured. The torture, the mind games, the constant torment...she shuddered. She _hated_ the demons...! They were the only beings she truly feared in this world. And one was _here, in this very city_, and she dearly, desperately wanted to run away, but she couldn't just abandon her friends here, not after they had spent so much time together. She liked them, she really did, and that made it even worse...!

She hurried down the street, looking around frantically, trying to spot the demon she knew was there. She really liked Misora and Sarah and Sir Robert and the rest. That weird cat girl whom Misora kept calling 'Chisame' rather than 'Dani' sort of put her off, but she liked them all just the same. She just hoped she could ensure their safety, even if she had to give up her freedom... She shuddered at the thought, but friends, real friends like Misora and the others, were very hard to come by, especially for someone like her.

He was close, she could feel it. One of the old ones, with a lot of old demon blood running through his veins. The pressure was stifling. She continued on, taking turns seemingly at random as she worked her way closer until finally, she knew she was within a hundred feet of him. She stepped out from around the corner of a building and found herself looking at a small park tucked into the space between two large buildings. In the center of the park was a pond surrounded by benches, and upon one of those benches...

She thought for one horrible moment that it was _him, _but her vision cleared and she saw the jawline was different, the eyes were the wrong color, and he wasn't built as heavily. She tried to swallow her doubt and began to walk confidently forward, hand placed lazily on the hilt of her sword, but he looked up at her and she stumbled and froze up, memories of the years of torture she had endured at another demon's hands flooding her thoughts. She shook her head to clear it, but he was standing up from the bench. She tried to step forward to meet him halfway, but her feet refused to move and her mouth went dry. He had crossed half the distance between them by the time she finally managed to take a step, but it took her in the wrong direction; she took a second shuffling step backward, then a third, and then he was _there_, right in front of her, his long stride having eaten up the distance between them in an instant, and then he grabbed her wrist and she was trapped.

"Well hello, Miss...what do you call yourself now? Scarlet?" he asked, cocking his head to the side. "My apologies for the greeting, but my brother says hello," he said as he drove his fist at her gut.

Scarlet stumbled backward just in time to reduce the impact of the powerful blow, tugging at her sword. One of her feet hooked the other ankle and she fell in a clumsy heap on the ground and did her best to scramble back out of his reach.

"D-don't hurt them!" she said, her voice shaky, her terror obvious.

"Well Miss Scarlet, I must say I am impressed. Not only did you survive my brother's, ah, 'ministrations', you managed to procure yourself an undying body of some sort as well. Tell me," he said, darting forward to grab her by the ankle. "Is this the work of Pendragon?" he swung her into the air one handed and let go, flinging her into a wall. She screamed at the impact and lay in a pitiful, quivering little ball at the base of the wall as he approached. "While I must admit that I find your form quite attractive," he said, rearing back and kicking her in the stomach hard enough to send her flying into another wall, "I am afraid I cannot simply let you go, or follow your suggestion as to what I am to do about your friends. Now, answer my question, please: Is this body the work of Saro Pendragon?"

Scarlet dragged herself to her feet and drew her sword, holding it out shakily before her, the narrow, wickedly sharp blade quivering in the air as she clutched at her broken ribs with her other hand.

Foloren Doubt stepped forward and batted the blade aside, knocking it from her grip. He grabbed her by the throat while she beat ineffectually at his hands and slammed her against the wall. Holding her in place, he knelt down to pick up her fallen sword. Her panicked eyes went from his to the sword and back, and he smiled sadly.

"Yes, I am afraid you have surmised correctly. You see, I am not in a position to be charitable to those who refuse to answer my questions..." he said regretfully. "But alas-"

"Yes! It was Saro! He saved me!" she said, gasping for breath. He released some of the pressure on her throat.

"Please, Miss Scarlet, by all means, continue."

She looked away, ashamed of her cowardice, and continued. "H-he saved me from your brother. He took me to his fortress and fixed my body, a-and made me...made me like this," she said helplessly.

"Ah, I see. So he truly has perfected his soul binding skills," Foloren said thoughtfully. "My thanks for this useful information, Miss Scarlet. Now, let us continue."

"N-no! You said-"

He squeezed her throat tightly, cutting off her speech and making her eyes bulge as he pressed her against the wall and lifted her up with one hand while he held the sword in the other, ignoring her frantic kicks. "I said I would free you? Help your friends escape, perhaps? Why no, I do not recall _saying_ anything of the sort."

He loosed his grip on her throat to let her speak again. "You...you lied...!" she managed to say between gasps for breath.

He smiled pleasantly. "Demon."

Scarlet tried to scream, but his hand closed around her throat again and cut off the sound before it could start, and then the pain took over as he fixed her to the wall with her own sword and walked away, leaving her dangling there like a grotesque butterfly pinned to a board.

* * *

Sir Robert finished the last of his meal and stood up from the bench, looking across the way at Rhett Reaker, the man who was going to... _try_ to kill him. Sarah jumped up and grabbed Sir Robert's hand before he could start walking.

"Come on! Let's get away from here! You don't have to fight him alone, we can get help! We can go find Scarlet, or Ava!"

"No," Sir Robert said, meeting the man's gaze from across the small plaza. "This is something between swordsmen. You see..." he said, smiling distantly as he looked down at her and ruffled her hair, "...this is something I feel I must do alone. A duel between swordsmen, a duel to the death, perhaps."

"But come _on_! What, do you think you're Musashi*? Let's just run away and find Misora! Someone has to warn her about this!"

"Oh, you're right about that," he said distantly, that odd grin still on his face. "Sarah, I hope you don't mind, but I can't help but see you as the daughter I never had. You remind me of myself, the way I was in the beginning, actually. So, do this old man a favor, will you?"

"You're not old!"

"Go and warn Misora. He," he said, nodding his head at the other swordsman, "won't chase you as long as we are fighting; I know the type. He is an outlaw, but his sense of honor is as strong as any knight's. "Now go on and warn her while I buy some time."

"But..." Sarah said, trailing off as she realized he probably didn't even hear her. She watched his broad back as he strolled off toward the other man, drawing his massive two-handed sword in a single fluid motion as he went, and finally realized he wanted this fight just as much as the other swordsman.

Sir Robert paused and looked back at her. "Don't worry, this won't take long."

"Y-you idiot...!" she said helplessly as she backed away. "D-don't die, or I'll never forgive you!" she shouted as she turned and ran. The deep, rumbling sound of Sir Robert's laughter let her know he had heard her last warning, and she burst into tears as she ran.

* * *

Sarah ran back down the wide, booth-lined street she and Sir Robert had just been wandering through not thirty minutes earlier, only now she recognized the locals' averted gazes and nervous shuffling for what it was: they were afraid. Somehow, whoever that swordsman's boss was had found out about their travel plans and had come to this place ahead of them.

The whole city was a trap; the others were in danger.

She ran as fast as she dared in the packed street, but there were so many people that her speed amounted to little more than a brisk walk. She looked around for an alley to duck into, perhaps leading to a less-used side street, but they were all closed off with folding gates, and she began to get the distinct impression she was trapped in the human equivalent of a cattle chute. She paused beside one of the gates and gave it a shove to see how sturdy it was, but the moment her hand made contact she received a nasty shock. She staggered back against the side of a cheap food stand, clutching at her heart, beating so wildly she felt it might burst from her chest.

She was still leaning against the food stand, trying to get her breathing and pulse rate under control, when a commotion further down the street caught her attention. She moved to peek around the stand and caught a glimpse of a very tall man in black standing in the middle of the street half a block away before something that looked like a long black ribbon shot past her face, missing by no more than three inches as the crowd broke out into chaos and people began to scream and run.

Sarah jerked back behind the food stall, but another of the black ribbons tore through the side just above her head and she let out a startled cry and dove out into the open. A fleeing woman tripped over her and sprawled in the road, but she scrambled away before Sarah could even look at her. She quickly got back to her feet and shoved through the fleeing locals before diving through a window into a building across the street. A terrified woman cringed back and looked as if she was about to scream, so Sarah ran over and clamped a hand over the woman's mouth. "_Quiet!_"

The woman struggled for a moment, but quickly gave up and sagged against her, shaking. A moment later the woman began to shake harder and Sarah realized she was crying, and sighed. "Look," she began, "I'm not going to hurt you, I'm just-"

The tall man dressed in black stepped into view in the window and turned to look inside, and Sarah got her first good look at him.

"I am Kagetaro of Bosporos," he announced through his elegantly painted white mask. "And you are Sarah McDougal, are you not?"

Sarah nodded hesitantly, and the woman she was holding began to squeal.

"Release your hostage," Kagetaro said.

Sarah just blinked at him for a moment. Hostage? What hostage? She didn't have a...! Oh. Oh no... "Th-this isn't what it looks like!" she said frantically as the woman struggled. "She's not a hostage! I wouldn't take a hostage, I swear!" she said, her hand still clamped over the terrified woman's mouth.

"Oh?"

"Yeah!" Sarah said as she released her. "See Wha-!" Sarah jerked to the side, pushing the screaming woman out of the way as another of those black ribbon shapes drove at her, just clipping her shoulder. Sarah cried out and scrambled through the nearest doorway and dove behind the wall, clutching at her shoulder as it streamed blood. She bit her tongue and paused there, listening as the woman ran away, screaming. The building and the street outside fell silent after a moment and she looked around at the room she was in, which appeared to be a private study. Bookshelves lined the walls of the room, and a large desk sat nearby, covered in books opened to various pages. If anything, it reminded her of her father's place; it was a real mess.

There was a footstep outside the doorway so she moved silently to a position where she could attack anyone coming in through the doorway. Another footstep sounded, and she prepared herself. One more...and the wall behind her exploded inward in a cloud of dust and flying paper, as she had half-expected, and she whirled around, striking the man in the elbow with a powerful blow of her fist as he came in through the newly-created doorway. He hissed in pain and staggered back against the wall beside him, and Sarah pressed her advantage and drove a knee into his gut. It was a good hit; her already strong legs reinforced by ki as she performed the long-practiced move. And it would have worked, too, on almost anyone else. As it was, her knee drove home and bounced off of what she could only describe as some sort of rubbery armor that almost completely diffused the effect of the blow.

Kagetaro grunted and gave her a hard shove, flinging her back into the opposite wall. "Well done," he said behind the mask. "But then again, what would have done if I had simply come straight at you, like this?" he asked, already in motion as he dove at her, black ribbons flying.

* * *

Gilles moved quietly through a dark alley and paused beside a large support arch between two buildings where the shadows provided excellent cover.

Something wasn't right in this town.

He had felt it right down to his bones from the moment they arrived. The whole place was filled with a certain heaviness that made his pulse pound in excitement and the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Blood would be spilled here, he could almost _smell_ it...!

The sound of a distant explosion reached his ears, and some woman screamed in alarm out in the street. He couldn't see anything from where he was, so he grabbed a handhold in the crumbling masonry of the support arch and pulled himself up. He made his way up, scrabbling for solid handholds in the decaying brickwork, and finally pulled himself up onto the roof of the adjacent building, putting him almost fifty feet above the street. The sound of another distant explosion reached his ears, and he realized he could see a plume of smoke coming up some distance away. Was it a mage duel...?

He heard the scrape of a boot on the grit that covered the roof and rolled to the side, a move that saved his life as a sword struck the surface where he had just been kneeling. He came up in a sort of half-crouch, holding a long dagger in a reverse grip as he saw his attacker.

"Who are you? Who do you work for?"

The man smirked and shook his head. "The name's Raddyn. And you'd be Gilles, right? Did I pronounce that correctly?" he asked, grinning toothily.

Gilles' eyes narrowed and he didn't respond.

Raddyn's toothy grin disappeared. "Hey, I asked you a question," he said.

Gilles continued staring.

Raddyn glared at him for a long, long moment, then suddenly grinned and shook his head. "Oh man, just look at this, huh? Here I am, being my awesome self, and it's all wasted on this mute idiot! Ha! Oh well, maybe it'd be for the best _if I kill him!_" he shouted, moving his sword, a long, narrow thing with a wicked curve, to an attack position as he darted up to Gilles.

Gilles deflected the blow with his dagger and slit open the side of Raddyn's shirt in one smooth motion; the armored shirt Raddyn wore under his normal shirt was the only thing that kept him from being disemboweled as he whirled to face Gilles and jumped away from a quick slice aimed at his neck.

"Whew! Now that was dangerous!" Raddyn said in an exaggerated tone of happiness. "If it wasn't for my armor I'd be dead now! But..." he said, trailing off as he fingered the long, clean hole in his shirt. "I...really liked this shirt. A girl gave it to me, you know? She watched sheep out in the hills near Argyre, and she was really pretty! Really good! And you ripped it...!" he said, his fingers absently going up to the scarf around his neck.

Gilles simply waited.

Raddyn's eyes suddenly snapped back to reality and locked on Gilles'. A moment of dead silence passed as Raddyn's ridiculous smile twisted into a vicious snarl and his eyes took on a wild look Gilles didn't like. He had seen that look before, once in the eyes of a rabid dog on the road from Moeris, again on a rogue lizard in Hecates, and he knew, beyond any doubt, that Raddyn was insane.

* * *

"So, what do you think that explosion was a minute ago?" Misora asked.

Chisame just shrugged and continued walking silently beside her, watching their surroundings carefully.

Misora surreptitiously glanced over at her friend and couldn't help but frown. What was going on here? Chisame had been acting strange ever since they arrived, and now she'd gone all quiet on her? Chisame had always been distant from the beginning, but this was just ridiculous...! Misora had thought she had at the very least lightened up when they ran into each other on the Great Coast Road back in Elysium, but here Chisame was, acting all gloomy and serious again.

Well, she would just have to do something about that, wouldn't she?

"So Chisame—I mean Dani, can I ask you something?"

"I guess," Chisame replied distractedly as she carefully eyed every person that walked past.

"So, Nodoka likes Negi, right?"

"...yes?" Chisame said, looking into a shadowy alley.

"And Misa likes him too, right?"

Chisame nodded absently as she glared at a suspicious man.

"And then there's Ku Fei and Fuuka and Fumika and Iincho and the even Konoka and Setsuna, right?"

"That's right," Chisame idly said, pausing to peek through an open window at someone who appeared to have been watching them but was actually just eating lunch.

"So all those people like Negi...since when did everyone become so obsessed with onions?"**

"..." Chisame just gaped at her.

"...?" Misora grinned back.

"..."

"...~"

"That has to be one of the _stupidest_ jokes I have ever heard...!" Chisame said, grinning in spite of the absurdity of it all.

Misora grinned and flashed the victory sign. "Hehe! I knew I could get you to lighten up~! Heh, the old onion pun works every time!"

Chisame shook her head and groaned as she reached up to squeeze the bridge of her nose. Heh, trust Misora to make her laugh with a stupid joke that wasn't even all that funny in the first place...! She rolled her eyes and glanced over at the other girl, but forgot what she was going to say when two figures stepped out of the crowd and paused before them.

Misora froze beside her, looking warily at the two men standing across from them.

"Kasuga Misora of Japan, Dani Ellesane of Zephyria, the two of you are under arrest for crimes ranging from tresspassing to murder. Will you come quietly?" Fate said.

Chisame locked eyes with Fate and carefully schooled her expression to leave nothing he could read. Misora, meanwhile, had pulled her pactio card out of her pocket the instant Fate and the other man appeared and stood there, ready to use it at any time.

The tall, dark haired man standing with Fate chose that tense moment to speak. "So, you're Kasuga Misora, the one that killed Marlowe in the old world?*** You're quite the looker...maybe I'll let you stay on as my slave after I drain you dry!" he said, lunging forward.

Chisame saw the chance she had been waiting for and leaped forward, past Fate, and darted toward a side road. "Catch me if you can, Fate-bastard!" she shouted.

* * *

Fate would reluctantly admit it had taken a lot of self control to keep from impaling her with a stone spear when he stepped out of the crowd and spotted the cat girl who had dropped a mountain on him walking alongside Kasuga Misora not twenty feet away. He wasn't exactly surprised to find his sentiments were much the same when he offered them the chance to surrender; he quite looked forward to the thought of having an excuse to exact his revenge upon her, actually. And, when she taunted him and ran into that side street, well...it gave him a perfect excuse to work out the last remaining tension from their previous run-in. Besides, while he doubted the vampire fighting Kasuga Misora would have much of a chance against her, Chaser Felix would at the very least keep her busy until his return.

He stalked toward the side street the cat girl had fled down.

* * *

"Unconventional form, yet solid. You are quite good," Sir Robert said as Rhett approached, his own sword already released from its clasps and held before him with both hands.

"You're one of those old school types," Rhett said, admiration clear in his voice. "You've probably got a trick for just about any situation, don't you?" he said, shifting his blade slightly.

"Oh, I wouldn't say I have one for _every _situation," Sir Robert replied, deftly parrying the other man's sudden attack and returning it with one of his own. He nodded in admiration as Rhett slipped aside and deflected his sword by a few inches, just enough to prevent a cut, the whole exchange lasting little more than a second.

"Yes, you are _quite_ good," Sir Robert said again, grinning toothily.

* * *

Rhett was, truth to tell, a little disturbed. When Tregani had told him about this, he had expected to be hunting down a tired old man, stiff and slow with age and dulled instincts. Instead, he had found what was, in the world of swordsmen, the equivalent of a mean old one eyed wolf, the sort that's seen more than its fair share of action over the years, a tough, grizzly fighter who was prepared for anything simply because he had already seen everything the world had to offer and had still come out on top.

Rhett had not been prepared for this.

It was bad enough the girl had already fled, but...Rhett had pride, too. This was a duel between swordsmen, something you didn't just throw aside simply because it was inconvenient. He was sure he would really hear it from his boss later, but he'd be damned if he let his pride as a swordsman get tarnished by something like _that_. But in any case, tough, experienced old man or not, Rhett had more than a few tricks of his own and years of experience besides.

He shifted, watched the older man adjust his stance, and shifted again. Yep, the old guy had a response for everything; he was quick too. 'So, now what?' Rhett thought to himself. Well, that was easy enough. He twitched his blade to the side to move the old guy off balance and stepped forward with a wicked slash at an odd angle, a strike he had once seen performed by a young woman from Mundus Vetus. Sir Robert deflected it almost too late.

"That was one of the Shinmeiryu school's moves," the old man said. "And yet, it had none of their..._life_...behind it. Imitation?"

"Got it in one, old man! Nice! Now how about this one?" Rhett said, switching to a one handed grip and used the other hand as a pivot, thrusting his sword rapidly. The old guy dodged, the only thing he _could _do in that situation, but he wasn't quick enough; the tip of the blade made contact and opened a long, shallow cut across the left side of his face.

Sir Robert hissed and took a few quick steps back out of range. Rhett was on him in an instant, however, and would have given him a matching cut on his throat had he not gotten his blade up in time.

Rhett leaped back and the two stood fifteen feet apart, watching each other for an opening.

"You are quite good," Sir Robert said after a moment. "I do believe I haven't faced anyone of your caliber in swordsmanship in, oh, thirty years or so. And your skill in the imitation of other sword arts is most impressive..._most _impressive. Are you self taught?"

Rhett shrugged, smirking confidently. "You could say that. I had a teacher for a while, but I left when I got better than him. You know how it is," Rhett said, shrugging. Sir Robert frowned at that. "But in any case, this is almost over. Why don't you just give up and save us both some time, huh? Come on, make it easy on yourself."

Rhett paused for a moment as he looked at the older man. Sir Robert's expression had gone hard halfway through his speech, and his instincts were screaming at him to run. Something, he finally realized, that they had been doing since he first spotted the man. But...

Him? Rhett Reaker, afraid of an old man? Ha! He had fought the best swordsmen he could find at every chance he got, he had nothing to fear from this old guy. He decided to give him one more chance.

"Come on old man, you're not the age to be doing this sort of thing anymore. You're like the guy that taught me swordsmanship; you're too old to face someone like me. You said it yourself, right? You haven't fought anyone tougher than me in thirty years!"

Sir Robert stood there for a moment, looking at him, and Rhett again had that feeling that he should just turn around and run as far and as fast as he could. He ignored it.

"You think you are the toughest opponent I have faced in thirty years? Do you know who I am?" Sir Robert asked quietly. Before Rhett could reply, the old man answered for him, bellowing out his name. "I am Sir Robert the Dragonslayer! I have killed a thousand dragons with nothing but my bare hands and a sword! And _you_, you think someone of your level is enough to defeat _me_?"

Rhett darted forward, but the old man knocked his blade away with the palm of his hand and smashed Rhett over the head with the pommel of his sword. Rhett staggered away out of reach and whirled to face him again.

"Toughest opponent? Ha! You are merely the toughest swordsman I've fought. Though..." Sir Robert paused again, the intensity in his eyes startling as he watched Rhett. "...you _do_ have the stink of dragons about you."

Rhett jerked away, barely dodging the old man's strike and for the first time began to realize just what sort of situation he had put himself into. While his initial ideas of his target had proven false, he hadn't truly appreciated the danger the old man represented.

"Ah, I see..." Sir Robert said. "You have dragon's blood in your veins..." Rhett felt his blood turn icy cold at that. He did, indeed, have dragon's blood running through his veins. While it meant little to him beyond added toughness and the faster healing of wounds, his ancient bloodline had brought him trouble in the past any time his secret had become exposed.

Rhett clenched his teeth as Sir Robert circled.

"It's old blood, but weak. What was it, ten generations ago? Twelve?"

"Nine," Rhett said, eyes narrow as he watched his opponent.

"Ah yes, I see," Sir Robert said. "Not quite weak enough to remain unwoken, yet not strong enough to be of much use."

"Shut up."

"The rebellious pupil, humiliating his diligent teacher by abandoning his teachings. Tell me," Sir Robert said, "did you ever stop to think that there is more to learning swordsmanship than stances and muscle memory?"

"I said shut up!" Rhett said, swinging his blade in a wide, angry arc that any newbie would have been able to avoid.

"Oh my, what anger. You know, had you not abandoned your honor along with your teaching, you could put that to good use. As it is, you have no idea of the danger you are in," the old man said.

Rhett moved back out of range and watched him, warily. "Danger?"

"Indeed. Do you know the easiest way to kill a dragon?"

Rhett's eyes narrowed. "...what is it?" he asked warily.

Sir Robert's eyes narrowed as he grinned ghoulishly. "With a dragon's weapon. Or, in this case, the weapon of the son of a dragon," he said, holding his sword so the light reflected off the blade.

Rhett's instincts went wild as he realized just what he was looking at. Sir Robert's sword wasn't just a sword, it was _the_ sword, the one given by the dragon king to his child. The sword buried in a stone for hundreds of years until one bearing dragon's blood pulled it out. Arthur's sword, Caliburn.

"Th...that's impossible!" Rhett screamed. "That sword's been lost for a thousand years! You _can't _have it...! _You _can't have it!"

Sir Robert grinned that same humorless grin at him. "Oh, this is Caliburn, there is no doubt about that. And it was indeed lost, stolen back by the first dragon I killed. I found it in his hoard, and it welcomed me. But I do not possess this sword, nor does it possess me. We are partners. And when I meet the King of Dragons, I will present Caliburn to him, and accept my judgement. I can not die before then. I _will _ not die before then. So, then, tell me young fool..."

Rhett watched the old man before him in horror, his hands slick with sweat on the grip of his sword. "Wh-what?"

"...don't you think it's time for the counter attack?"

* * *

_**Author's Notes**: Whew, this one gave me a lot of trouble, and I'm still not really happy with the conflicts that make up the bulk of the chapter. In any case, I'm pushing this one out the door and working up the next half of the chapter, the finale of the Misora in the Magic World arc, which will feature all the crazy violence that would naturally occur from a situation such as this ;p Stay tuned!_

*Musashi - Miyamoto Musashi, famous swordsman who participated in dozens of duels.

**Negi/Onion joke – Negi is japanese for what is pretty much scallions.

***Misora killing Marlowe – see my story "How To Kill Zombies" on this site.


	35. Ch 32b Misora in the Magic World, pt 6b

**Still Waters 3, Chapter 32b, Misora in the Magic World, Part 6b**

* * *

_The Oni Lands, The Capital City of Vairocana_

* * *

"...don't you think it's time for the counter attack?"

Rhett caught a subtle shift in his opponent's blade, hurried to compensate, and almost missed the last-instant correction as Sir Robert darted in, eyes wild as his toothy grin widened. It was all Rhett could do to keep from losing an arm; as it was he still ended up getting his shoulder nicked. He stepped back warily, holding his sword in a more defensive position as he tried to open up some space. Getting cut like that could be just as dangerous as getting it in the gut, if it happened enough times. He had seen men go out that way before, caused more than a few of 'em to do it too, and it was never easy to watch. The way their movements and reflexes became slower and slower as they lost more and more blood, the way their eyes started wandering as they neared the end-

-he barely managed to deflect Sir Robert's blade as the man came in again with a vicious thrust, leaving a long cut on Rhett's forearm as he pulled his blade back.

"Come now, you'll die like this," Sir Robert said.

"I'm not ready for that, yet," Rhett replied absently as he shifted his blade. "What about that girl?"

"She'll be fine," Sir Robert said, showing far too many teeth as he grinned again. "I'm actually glad she left; I could never bear to show her this side of me," he said as he lunged again. Rhett scrambled to halt the older man's assault, but the best he could manage was several clumsy blocks before Sir Robert disengaged and slipped back out of range.

Rhett swore under his breath. The cut on his forearm, while shallow, stung like hell and was bleeding badly; it had already drenched the hilt of his sword with blood, compromising his grip. The one on his shoulder was really starting to sting as well, and was probably already slowing his movements with that arm. He saw Sir Robert adjust his stance and feinted to buy a little time, but the older man saw right through it and nearly ran him through; the only thing that saved his life was a last minute twist away from the attack combined with the tip of Sir Robert's blade bouncing off of a large coin he happened to have in his vest pocket. He moved with the impact and swung his two handed scimitar, but Sir Robert dropped low enough to avoid it. Rhett saw an opportunity and took it; he stepped forward and kneed the older man in the face before he could recover. It was a sloppy, glancing blow, but it was the best he could manage and it staggered the other man enough to buy him some more time.

The man wasn't just good for his age, he was good, period. _Shockingly_ good. Rhett had heard the stories about the man who singlehandedly took down dragons with nothing but a sword, but he had always thought them exaggerations or outright lies. But _this_...if the old man was such a monster now, what had he been like in his earlier days...? It boggled the mind.

And, for the first time he could remember since childhood, Rhett Reaker felt the cold, clammy emotion of fear flooding through him. His pulse quickened, his eyes widened, he started to sweat... And for the first time he noticed the subtle movements Sir Robert made with his blade, each tiny movement the setup for a different killing strike. Rhett swallowed, his throat incredibly dry, and barely managed to duck aside as the old man made a vicious thrust at his neck that missed by a hair.

Rhett tried to back away to gain some space and perhaps enough time to get his second wind, but the old man was right there with him, refusing to let him have even an inch of ground.

* * *

Sarah scrambled away at the last second, Kagetaro's ribbons missing her by mere inches. She threw a punch at the back of his head, but he moved and she was left completely open for the vicious right he drove into her belly that lifted her completely off the floor. Pain exploded in her stomach and she hit the floor of the empty house a second later, clutching at her belly and barely able to breathe. Her vision was wavery, fading in and out. What was that? He had moved so _fast_...! She could barely think with the pain coursing through her, but she knew she had to get up. If she just gave up, she'd never see her daddy again, not to mention Su and Shinobu and the others... She managed to get her arms under her and pushed herself up onto her hands and knees, and spat out some blood. It felt like something had been ruptured inside; she knew she desperately needed some healing, but first she needed to survive. And, to do that, she had to get out of this situation relatively intact. She clenched her teeth and focused on trying to stand.

* * *

"Well done, girl. For someone without any shields, you have done well to survive thus far," Kagetaro said. He kicked her hard in the side, sending her through the air. She bounced off of a bookshelf and hit the floor in a painful heap and lay there, unmoving. "In fact, I wouldn't have minded letting you live, but..."

* * *

Sarah's world exploded into pain again and she found herself on the floor and unable to focus on anything but the sheer agony that was her abdomen. Her vision was blurry and she couldn't think, but if she didn't do something, didn't _move_, then...

_Su, Shinobu, Naru, Kitsune_

_Motoko, Mutsumi_

_Daddy, Haruka, Keitaro_

_Even Kanako, when it came down to it_

If she didn't do something here, now...

* * *

"..."

Kagetaro paused for a moment as he stood over the girl he had been tasked to kill. Something was happening...

"Even..."

He couldn't quite make out what she was saying. He knew he could end it here with a single attack; she was in no shape to defend herself from anything he could dish out. But...he was curious. He stepped back to give her some space.

* * *

"E...even Kanako..." Sarah mumbled to herself as she reached up and fumbled for a hold on the bookshelf. She pulled herself upright and sat there for a moment, swaying. "Even..."

If she didn't do something now, she'd never see them again. Her daddy would worry about her, and maybe come to find her. And if he tried to find her and found this guy in black instead...

* * *

Kagetaro paused as a burst of pressure exploded outward from the fallen girl, and another, and another, each stronger than the last as she slowly pulled herself up the bookshelf to her feet. If he was going to go for an easy kill, now was the time to act. He readied the ribbons again, but held off when she turned to face him and he got a good look at her eyes.

"If...I die here...I'll...never see them again..."

Kagetaro frowned under his mask as he felt the buildup of power. The girl's eyes were wide open, but there was so little _presence_ in them...had the girl gone insane? And this sort of power...! What exactly had he stumbled upon, here? The girl was remarkable...it was a shame she'd have to die.

He launched a half-dozen ribbons at her, but just before they made contact, there was a tremendous swirling explosion of power and he was thrown back through the wall behind him and found himself in the street as the house the girl was still in collapsed around her.

"That power...she is still alive," he said, unable to hide the grin forming under his mask as he looked at the dust cloud that hid the rubble of the building. Yes, her power was still increasing...

He watched closely as the dust cloud began to spin around and dispersed, revealing the pile of rubble that had been a house. For a moment nothing, and then the rubble shifted. A long moment passed and the girl's power spiked, broken beams and cracked stone went flying, and the girl pulled her way up out of the debris and stood swaying above it for a moment, her clothes and long hair flipping around in the chaotic air currents created by her power as it surged.

Kagetaro grinned hugely under his mask. Oh, what he wouldn't do to make this one an apprentice...! "You are strong, girl. The reports I was shown said nothing of this-" Her fist struck him square in the stomach, the force mostly dissipated by his shadow armor. He swatted her next strike away, but she turned with the momentum of it and kicked his legs out from under him before he could counter.

He hit the ground face down and she mounted him from behind, eerily silent, and drove her fist into the back of his head, over and over. His shadow armor drastically reduced the effect of the blows, so she grabbed his head with both hands and began smashing him face-first into the road surface.

Kagetaro, more stunned more by her violent actions than the force of the attack, waited a moment before heaving himself up and throwing her off. The girl went flying through the air, but twisted and landed on her feet, using her hand for balance. She looked up at him and charged again, her power surging around her in what he could only describe as a pink fireball. She streaked toward him, and he dated out to meet her. His ribbons shot toward her, forcing her to dodge. The first three missed, but the second struck her in the shoulder, knocking her off balance and sending her rolling into the side of another building, whose outer facade collapsed, again burying her in debris.

Kagetaro waited a moment to see if she could again manage to extricate herself, but her power started to fluctuate and he knew she was really in trouble this time. Whether from injury or simply burning herself out, Sarah McDougal was at death's door. He approached the wreckage cautiously as her power flickered, and probed tentatively with one of his ribbons. No reaction. He moved closer, to within ten feet...still nothing. He paused as her power spiked for an instant, probably because of his nearness, and then dropped even further. He waited for a long ten count, and then moved closer. It was foolish to come so near to a fallen opponent, but curiosity, the bane of everything from cats to humans, compelled him to move closer still. Had her power protected her from serious injury, or was she lying there under the rubble, even now, breathing her last? He knew he would probably live to regret what he was about to do, but he needed to know. He stood above the rubble, using his ribbons to pull it away piece by piece while her power flickered and got weaker and weaker. He moved closer, knowing it was a stupid thing to do, and the rubble exploded upward with tremendous force and something struck him a colossal blow to the face that blasted him back into the buildings on the other side of the street. His ribbons reacted on instinct and swatted the staggering girl hard; she was thrown a hundred feet or more before she hit the ground and bounced, a limp tangle of limbs and long hair as she hit the road surface and rolled to a stop, where she lay unmoving.

_*crack*_

Kagetaro froze.

*_crack*_

Light came in, burning his skin. He lifted his hand wonderingly to his mask and traced the cracks that radiated outward from the left side, shattered by the girl's attack. Never before had this happened. He got up and walked down the street toward where the girl still lay. As he approached, he got a glimpse of the damage he had done to her with that last instinctual smash with his ribbons; she lay in an unmoving, tangled heap, left arm wrapped around behind her and hanging at an awkward angle, legs sprawled out, and her face covered by her hair, which hung limply everywhere. But, as he got near, he could still feel it, that pulse so like a heartbeat that seemed to characterize her power. It was weak, almost too weak to detect, but it was steady. She would live.

_*crack*_

"You broke my mask."

Sarah didn't respond or make any indication she had even heard him at all.

"No one has ever broken my mask," Kagetaro continued.

Sarah remained silent.

"Well done."

While the sounds of distant explosions rolled over the city, this street, at least, was quiet. Another sizable chunk of Kagetaro's mask fell off, and he sucked in his breath when he wasn't quick enough to cover it and his skin was again burned.

"Sarah McDougal, I was ordered to capture or kill you, but you have dealt a tremendous blow to me; I am afraid I must retreat and rejoin my allies." He turned to go, paused, looked back at the girl's unmoving form, the pulse of her power still running steadily underneath, giving lie to her deathly appearance. "You have tremendous potential, girl. You're too strong to die here."

* * *

Gilles knelt in the shadow of a large stone gargoyle statue, absolutely still. Somewhere among the sea of carved statues, chimneys, and other structures scattered about on the gently sloping rooftop, a madman lurked. There was a tiny _*clink*_ and something small slid down the slope of the roof past him, and Gilles leaped aside, trying not to slip off the roof himself. Raddyn was _right there_, sword and knife in hand, so Gilles took a swipe at him and darted away across the roof. Raddyn followed right after him, silent but with a wide, toothy grin spread across his face as he followed, his eyes open unnaturally wide.

Gilles vaulted over another gargoyle and threw a loose ceramic roof tile at the other man, who dodged it and kept coming. Gilles met him coming in, deflected the man's sword with his dagger, and shoulder-checked him, making extra sure to drive his elbow into Raddyn's gut. Raddyn's momentum knocked the both of them down, and Gilles' dagger slid away down the slope and over the edge of the roof, as did Raddyn's sword. Raddyn still had his knife, though, and the two wrestled for control of it.

Gilles struggled to get the fingers of his right hand into Raddyn's eyes, and Raddyn tried to do the same to him while struggling to force the blade of his knife down into Gilles. They struggled against each other, straining for the upper hand, until Gilles abruptly released Raddyn's knife hand. The knife plunged into the roof and stuck there, and Gilles heaved the other man off before he could regain his balance. Raddyn rolled down the slope of the roof toward the edge, but managed to stop himself before he could fall over and drop the last fifty feet or so to the ground. He scrambled to his feet and stood facing Gilles across twenty feet of sloping rooftop.

"You could make this easy on yourself and just die, you know," Raddyn said.

Gilles just looked at him. "And you think it would be so easy, do you?"

"Of course," Raddyn said. "I've seen a lot of people die; it's easier than you might think." He began circling up the slope away from the edge as he spoke. "Just stick a knife in the right place, and _anyone_ can die," he said, then grinned toothily.

Gilles fell silent as he watched the other man's movements.

"What's the matter, thinking of that chick you've been traveling with?" Raddyn asked as he edged up toward the peak of the roof. "What's her name, Misora? I don't blame ya, man. She's pretty hot, in that athletic-no-boobs sorta way. _Great_ legs."

Gilles didn't deign to reply as he, too, began climbing up toward the peak of the roof.

When both men stood straddling the peak, Raddyn heaved a much-put-upon sigh. "Oh come _on_, what are ya, deaf and dumb? Say something! I want to get this over with so I can go check her out," he said, then grinned lecherously and gave a sly wink. "Hey...wanna make a bet? I wonder how long it'll take me to bed her~"

Gilles just gave the man a long, hard look and heaved a sigh of his own, shaking his head. "Heh...like you've got a chance. Like _anyone _ has a chance...That girl is one of a kind; she's so far above the likes of you and I that neither one of us could ever even _begin_ to hope for a chance at something like that," he said, a faint smile on his lips. "All I can do is protect her in the only way I can."

Raddyn cocked an eyebrow. "Oh? And how is that?"

Gilles lowered his head so most of his face was hidden in shadow, and smirked. "By watching over her room while she sleeps. By watching her back when she fights. And..." he said, pausing to look back up at Raddyn, an unmistakable sense of bloodlust in his gaze. "...by killing those who would cause her pain, before they can stain her sight." He lifted his arms up to chest level and held the palms of his hands six inches apart. "Blood letter, blood drinker, blade of a thousand deaths, blade of the murderer. Awaken, your master is calling you! Release your bindings! Jackal, I release you!" Raddyn watched in surprise as the palm of Gilles' right hand began to glow a deep red the color of old blood, and a blackened shape like the hilt of a sword materialized. Gilles gripped the hilt and pulled, slowly drawing a long, curved weapon with a blood red blade a hand wide, its surface smooth as glass, from his hand.

Raddyn whistled. "Whoa, now that's something! I've never seen anything like that before," he said, drawing a couple of knives that had been hidden up his sleeves and ran toward him. "Oh well, it's time to kill you now!"

Gilles waited and let him come, and with an expert flick of his blade knocked one of the knives from Raddyn's hand; it bounced across the rooftop and fell out into the street.

Raddyn snarled and leaped back out of range.

Gilles just looked at him. 'Well at least I wiped that irritating smirk off his face,' he thought to himself. "Don't make the mistake of thinking I can only wield a knife."

Raddyn sneered at him, showing his crooked teeth. "That was just a fluke; you're not that good." He drew another knife from a hidden sheath to replace the lost one, and darted at Gilles again.

Gilles let him get close enough to think he'd won, then grabbed his nearest knife hand by the wrist and smashed him in the face with the pommel of his sword. Raddyn shrieked and went down, dropping his knives.

"By dose! You broke by dose...!"

Gilles gave him a swift kick in the ribs, but backed off when Raddyn produced another knife and took a swipe at him, this one attached to a rig that allowed it to drop down into his hand from somewhere in his sleeve.

Raddyn stood up, still clutching his broken knife as he pointed his holdout knife at Gilles. "You broke by dose, I'm gonna ged you for dad!"

Gilles just waited, his sword at the ready.

* * *

Scarlet hung on the wall, pinned by her sword, helpless, crying in pain and frustration at her inability to do anything to help her friends. The blade was long and thin and razor sharp, capable of beheading an opponent with one well placed strike, as she herself had illustrated more than once; a shocking feat for such a delicate looking sword. But...now it was pinning her to the wall. Her undying body bled, true-Saro had done his work well when restoring her to life all those years ago—it also healed quickly and felt pain on a vastly reduced scale compared to a normal human body. But, even with such a body, even with such a weapon, even with the best friends she had had in well over a century in trouble, hunted by a demon, she could do nothing but hang there and cry. She was ashamed of herself, of her weakness, of the cowardly instincts screaming at her to get loose from the wall and hide until the demon went away.

And she was even _crying_...! Disgusting!

"I-I'm sorry...Saro..." she said, clutching the pendant he had given her upon awakening all those years ago. "Save me!"

The pendant grew warm in her hands immediately, and she heard his reassuring, dry voice speaking in her mind. _'Scarlet? Is something wrong?'_

She closed her eyes, trying to will her tears to stop before she answered. "Th-there is a demon..." She shivered upon speaking the world, and turned away in shame even though he had no way of seeing her.

'_A demon? Well then, do you want revenge for what happened before?'_ he asked.

Scarlet shook her head. "I'm scared..."

'_Why? I made that body of yours with fighting demons in mind, you know. Toughen up, girl. Where are you?'_

"I'm in Vairocana, in the Oni lands," she replied, already much calmer simply from hearing Saro's voice.

'_That is...unexpected. Why are you there?'_

The sword shifted with her weight, dropping her down six inches and driving the blade through a rib in an agonizing moment that took her breath away. To her credit, she did not cry out.

_'Scarlet?'_

"I...was helping some friends..." she reluctantly admitted

Saro went quiet for a long, long moment, and when he spoke, it was with a strong, firm tone. '_I see. Well then, why are you calling me?'_

"I don't know what to do!" she said desperately, barely able to keep herself from sobbing.

Saro sighed. _'Scarlet. If there is a demon, then your friends are in trouble. What are you waiting for? You know what to do. I am busy. Contact me later.'_

"S-Saro! Don't! I...I need to...to talk to you..." A tremendous explosion rocked the city and Scarlet screamed as the wall she was pinned to shook and began to collapse in a shower of debris. The sword came loose and she screamed again, louder, as she hit the ground hard and the blade was jarred.

She lay there in the fetal position for a long moment, breathing quick, shallow breaths as she clutched at the sword the demon had run through her. Almost of their own accord, Saro's words came back to her. _If there is a demon, then your friends are in trouble. What are you waiting for?_ What _was_ she waiting for? Saro had said it himself: her body was built to fight demons. It was what she had begged for. 'I've gotten soft...' she thought to herself as she gripped the hilt of the sword and pushed it away, slowly drawing it from her stomach, clenching her teeth together so as to avoid screaming at the pain it caused. Sweat broke out on her forehead and she gave the sword another push, forcing it out another six inches. 'Just a little more to go,' she thought frantically. Misora, Sarah, Sir Robert, Ava and Ruden, even Gilles and that weird cat girl Misora kept calling Chisame...she really liked them all. That demon...he was going to go after them. He looked like a human; they would have no way of knowing what he was until it was too late... The hilt of the sword was too far away to get any leverage now, so she reluctantly gripped the blade itself and with a growl yanked it the rest of they way out. She hissed at the pain and dragged herself upright, where she staggered against the side of a building as the wound in her stomach where she had been run through slowly worked its way shut.

The pain lessened after a moment, but it still took her a moment to catch her breath.

It took a few minutes, but eventually the pain disappeared entirely and the place where she had been stabbed felt only numb. She knew she would have to eat a lot later to replace the energy it had taken to heal so quickly... She pushed herself off the wall and stood up under her own power. Saro's words...Saro had been right, of course. He always was. The whole matter was incredibly simple: a demon was going after her friends, and she was the only one who could stop it. It was a simple yes or no proposition: go after the demon and probably save her friends, or run away and leave the best friends she had found in more than a century to be brutally murdered?

She wiped the blood from her sword and sheathed it, and took a quick look around. The area was deserted, the locals had probably fled when the demon had stuck her to the wall. There was no need to attempt to track the demon down; she could tell which direction he was in and how far away he or any other demon was by a weird sort of resonance in her head. Whenever she had felt that resonance before, she had always fled. But now...

She set off toward the brother of the demon who had tortured her for so long all those years ago. These were friends worth dying for.

* * *

Ava dragged herself out from under Ruden's unprotesting body in the middle of the street while the locals ran screaming. She sat up, swaying. Something had happened, but it had occurred so quickly she couldn't quite figure out what it was. One moment she had gone into that store with the dress—a store, she noted, that had had its whole front blown in—and then the next the ground had exploded under her. And now here she felt so weak, and wet too, and there was a sharp smell...like...

...like blood...

Her hands were covered in it. For that matter, so were her traveling clothes. The cute top Ruden had bought for her in Aris was ruined...! She idly wiped some blood from her face, and her gaze fell on Ruden's unmoving body, saw the stab wound in his back, the pool of blood underneath him. She coughed and her stomach exploded into agony and she hit the ground an instant later, screaming as she clutched at the stab wound.

When the pangs had stopped she found herself looking at the man she loved as he lay unmoving a couple feet away.

"...she's still alive."

Ava's eyes widened and she heaved herself back up, vomiting blood and bile as she did.

"So you 'know where your sword went'?" a woman said, irritated.

"Just a miscalculation, I guess. She's wounded and the big guy's dying or already dead in any case, so it doesn't matter. This will only take a moment," a man's voice said.

Ava's eyes went blank. 'The big guy's dying or already dead'? Ruden? Ruden was...was _dead_? H-he couldn't die! He was...he was... She turned her head to look at him, saw his unmoving body, his outstretched hand. She hesitantly reached for it, lightly touched his fingertips...they were cold. _They were cold_. Ruden was _dead_. _Ruden_...was _dead_... "R...Ruden...y-you're...you can't be..."

"Just relax. I'm sorry about this, but it's the only way," the man said from behind her. She distantly heard the metallic ring of a sword being drawn from a scabbard and struggled to her feet.

"Shirabe," the man standing behind her said warningly.

"A moment," the woman's voice replied. "Adeat!"

"You...you killed him..." Ava said. She turned around to face the man who had been about to kill her, and he flinched back.

"Oh-"

* * *

"-shit!" Tregani shouted as he scrambled back from the crazy woman as she took a wild swing at him. Water materialized in the air and hit him like a ton of bricks and he was thrown back, saved from any broken bones by the magic shields he kept up at all times. Nevertheless, the hit had broken through half his shields, and it had _hurt_. "Oh _shit_!" he screamed again, the breath knocked out of him as he scrambled away on hands and knees. "Shirabe! She's one of _them_! She's an elemental!"

Shirabe paused for a instant, then turned and ran. "Get away from her!"

Tregani didn't need anyone to tell _him_ twice.

"You _killed_ him...!" the crazy woman shouted, her voice taking on an oddly deep quality that shook him down to his bones.

Tregani darted into a narrow alley and tried to work his way around behind the crazy woman. 'Why didn't he _tell _us we were going to be facing an elemental?' he thought bitterly to himself. You didn't mess with elementals, not unless you were crazy prepared. He had fought a couple of them before and heard stories about others who had tried, and it took a _lot_ of planning and preparation just to avoid having your whole group wiped out, not to mention actually taking down the target. And a _water_ elemental at that...! "Damn it..." It only took a few seconds' thought to dismiss his initial suspicions of treachery and conclude that Fate must not have known; He and Tregani may not have known each other very well, but Tregani _did _know Fate well enough to know he wouldn't have knowingly sent Shirabe into a deathtrap. He looked back the way he had come and swore again. He couldn't tell where that crazy elemental woman had gone... Had she followed him into the alley? He had no way of knowing, and he didn't know this part of town well enough to know where this particular alley came out, or if it even had an exit. The alleys of Vairocana were like a maze to those who hadn't grown up here. He looked around and spotted a ladder going up the side of a building, so he took it.

He crept along the roof of the building, keeping low, until he could see out into the street. He spotted Shirabe climbing up onto a rooftop a short distance away on the other side of the street and forced himself to calm down and relax a little. They hadn't been working together long, but he had found himself thinking of the wood sprite girl as someone he could trust to watch his back. It looked like his instincts were still good... He crept closer to the edge of the roof and spotted the crazy water elemental woman wandering around almost directly below him, muttering to herself as splashes of water occasionally whirled through the air, plowing through anything in their way. His peripheral vision caught a frantic motion from Shirabe and he looked up to see her shaking her head and trying to motion him back.

"Found you..."

Tregani felt something massive take hold of him before he could react, and then he was flying through the air. He had a brief moment to wonder if his magic shields would hold up against the impact before he went through the outside wall of a building and hit a support pillar inside. He bounced off the opposite wall and hit the floor an instant later.

"...ow..."

He pushed himself up, wincing at the battering his body had taken, and finally realized he wasn't alone in the room. A woman huddled against the far wall, trying to shield her two small children from him with her body.

"D-don't hurt us, please!"

Tregani groaned as he pulled himself upright. "I'm not going to hurt you," he said, holding on to the pillar for support. "You should get out of here, it's dangerous." He left the terrified woman behind and stumbled down the stairs and into the foyer, where he paused for a moment to renew his shield magic. In the street outside, he could hear the sharp squeal of Shirabe's violin and the explosions brought about by it. He could also feel the eerily invasive whole-body prodding of a water elemental reaching out for material to use. He had heard others try to describe the sensation, but their descriptions inevitably petered out into something like 'someone touching you under your skin'. He shuddered and forced himself to ignore the sudden impulse to run as far as from that...that _thing_ out there in the street as possible. The sensation came again, followed by another squeal and explosion, a painful shriek, and...nothing. He eased the door open and slipped outside, trying to spot the elemental, and almost couldn't believe his eyes when he spotted her lying curled up in a ball in the street, clutching at the stump of one arm, where Shirabe's attack had hit home. Shirabe jumped down from her rooftop and strode purposely toward the fallen girl.

* * *

"Whew, she was doing pretty good for a while there. 'Til the end, anyway," the friendly tomboyish woman said. "Hey, you should be watching this. Looks like she might be in trouble now, though..."

Ruden just laid there. 'Ava...I'm...I'm sorry...'

She nudged his shoulder with her toe. "Hey, she's going to die if you don't get up and help her, you know."

Ruden just continued to lay there. "I can't...I'm dying..."

The woman shrugged. "Shame. She was pretty good looking too. Oh, look at that, her arm's off. She'll bleed out pretty quick like that, water elemental or not. Are you just going to lay there or what?"

He couldn't help it...! Didn't the idiot woman who called herself his 'big sis' see he was dying? He'd been run through, his guts had been cut! He was dying, Ava was dying, and there was nothing he could do about it!

"Uh oh, they're getting close now," the woman said, shading her eyes to cut the glare of the sun, high overhead. "The violin chick's gonna blow her in half. Don't you want to do something?"

Ruden growled in frustration. "If I could, don't you think I _would_?" he ground out through clenched teeth, pounding the ground with his fist in frustration. "She's going to _die_ and there's nothing I can do about it!"

"What are you, stupid? Of course you can do something! It's only when you give up that you can't." She paused, then added "Or when your arm's been blown off by some girl who _really_ can't play violin very well."

"You're lying," he said bitterly.

The woman walked over to stand beside his head and knelt down. "Hey now, we've known each other a long time, right? Years, right? I wouldn't like to you, would I? Wait," she added, shaking her head. "Bad question. But would I lie to you about something like this?"

"...probably."

She grinned. "Hey now, that's not fair! Come on, look at me you big idiot," she said, moving so she could look him in the eye. "You're touching earth and stone, right? What are you, stupid? You're not going to die as long as you're touching that. Now come on, get up," she said, dragging him up to a seated position and putting her hands on his shoulders to hold him steady as she looked him in the eye. "Do you love her?"

Ruden sat there for a long moment, tears streaming from his frustration at his inability to help Ava. "...yes."

The woman nodded, grinning. "Hey, tell ya what," she said, leaning in close to whisper conspiratorially. "Why don't you tell her that after you save her, huh?"

"I-I can't, I'm dying," he insisted.

The woman rolled her eyes. "Idiot. Still in shock, huh? I guess you need something to jolt you back to reality. C'mere a minute," she said, sitting down in his lap and pulling him close. His gaze shot to hers, surprise and confusion showing clearly in his eyes as he started to frame a question, but he was cut off as their lips met and she kissed him. _Hard_. She came up for air after a moment and grunted in amusement. "Man, you are a _terrible_ kisser. But you guys can work on that, I guess," she said as she stood up and dusted herself off. "There you go, something to look forward to. Now get up, you idiot. You're not going to die here, not today. I fixed ya."

Ruden sat up and cautiously prodded the area where moments earlier, a sword had gone through him. His skin was clean and unbroken. "But...but how? You're not real! No one else can see you, not since I was a kid!"

The woman smirked, crossing her arms under her chest. "Doesn't _this_ look real? And you sure seemed interested when I kissed you just now. Come on, give it up. This is reality, and you just kissed another woman in front of your girlfriend. Granted, it was to snap you out of your pitiful little wussy moment, yeah, but a kiss is a kiss. I guess you can apologize after you save her, huh? Come on, stand up," the woman said, pulling him to his feet. As always, he towered over her and marveled that such strength, such raw physical power could exist in a frame so small. She was thin and the top of her head came barely halfway up his chest, yet had pulled him to his feet effortlessly, as she had always been able to.

"What...what _are_ you?"

The woman who always called herself his 'big sis' smirked at him. "I'm surprised you haven't figured it out yet. I'm the old Elemental Queen of Earth." Her smirk widened into a full-on toothy grin. "And I've had my eye on you, well, forever; I find you acceptable. Congratulations. I'm passing my title on to you, mister Elemental King of Earth. Now go on, knock 'em dead for hurting that hot girl you like so much," she said, grinning wickedly.

Ruden blinked and she was gone. Elemental King of Earth? He hadn't ever heard of such a title, but...it felt right. He spotted Ava lying in the road with the two attackers standing over her, and all pleasant thoughts disappeared.

"You hurt Ava..."

He began stalking toward them.

"You hurt Ava...!" he shouted. They looked up, the man's eyes widened in disbelieving shock, but the woman lifted her violin and played a sharp, ripping note at him. She seemed quite surprised when a wall of dirt rose up and took the blow for him as he broke into a run. The guy backed away, frantically scrambling to draw his sword, but then Ruden was right beside and gave him a tremendous blow in the gut that sent the man flying down the street. He struck out in a wide, back-handed blow that knocked the girl's violin from her hands and gave her a hard shove that sent her flying as well. With those two out of the picture, he knelt down beside Ava and put a tourniquet on what was left of her arm and gently cradled her broken and bleeding body. After a moment she swam up out of whatever fugue she had been in and their eyes met.

"Y-you're not dead," she said, her voice very small as she started to cry.

He couldn't keep his eyes from watering as well. "I'm not," he confirmed, holding her close.

* * *

Tregani limped along the street, staggering from wall to wall, taking any chance he could to rest for a moment and catch his breath.

If he was any judge, he had broken several ribs. He had also spat out quite a bit of blood in the last minute or so since he managed to get back to his feet, something that was much worse than most people realized. He continued on, and a moment later Shirabe joined him.

"Won't Fate be mad?" Tregani asked breathlessly as the two limped their way back toward the building Fate had taken as an HQ.

Shirabe had been clutching at her side since she had joined him, and when she moved her arm he saw blood on her clothes. "They were both elementals, but the man, Ruden, was far stronger. He will understand."

"But they're so rare," Tregani said after a moment as he paused to lean on a wall in an attempt to get his breath back. "Why are there two together?"

Shirabe joined him in leaning against the wall. "They tend to stick together when they find each other, even if they don't know what they are," she said, wincing as she gently tugged the material of her shirt away from the injury in her side so it wouldn't get stuck.

Tregani groaned when he inadvertently bumped one of his broken ribs. "Like magnets or something..." He shook his head to clear it and swayed for a moment before he regained his balance. "I'm not making any sense. We need to get some help right away..."

Shirabe nodded, and they set off again.

* * *

Foloren was slowly making his way across the city toward the nearest source of explosions when Scarlet caught up to him. Her first attack was a flying kick to the back of the head that knocked him forward, off balance. Her next was a solid blow across the backs of his legs, making them collapse under him, then she held her sword high with both hands and plunged it deep into the unresisting tissue of his back.

Foloren let out a tremendous roar and jerked away. Scarlet's sword ripped loose in a bloody mess and she went after him again before he could recover. She lopped off his right hand when he tried to swat her sword aside, kicked him in the chin, and drove her sword down into his ribcage and out through his stomach.

He grabbed her wrist with his remaining hand and threw her into the side of a building, and dragged himself to his feet. He reached up and grabbed the hilt of the sword and grunted in pain as he pulled it out and staggered against a wall. He glanced over at Scarlet, who was struggling to get her her feet. "You...*cough* ...got me good, Scarlet..." he said, wheezing. He clenched his teeth and shook his head to clear it, leaning against the wall to keep his balance. "But even if you do manage to banish me, I'll be back."

Scarlet sneered at him as she leaned against the wall, clutching her side. "I don't care, demon! Just keep my friends out of this!"

Foloren snarled. "To tell the truth, I hadn't ever expected to see you again after my brother found you. Normally his toys don't last long at all...I'm sure he will be delighted to hear of your continued existence." He pushed off the wall and took a few steps forward.

Scarlet staggered away from her wall as well and moved to stand in the middle of the street. "I'm not the same person I was then," she said, standing her ground in the street. "I'm not going to give up and allow you to do as you wish."

"Even as I am now," Foloren said, foamy blood dribbling from the corner of his mouth as he held the stump of his arm close to his side, "do not think it will be easy."

Scarlet took a few steps forward and drew a dagger from a hidden sheath in her boot. "I never thought it would be."

She jumped as Foloren darted forward and drove the dagger down at the top of his head with all the strength she could muster.

* * *

Fate followed the irritating cat girl through twisting, turning streets, almost losing her several times along the way. Whoever she was, she was good, very, very good; shockingly so, even. He put on as much speed as he dared in the narrow alleys and ran straight into a fist around the next corner. He hit the ground an instant later.

"Binding Vines, Spring Forth!"

A dozen huge vines burst out of the ground and seized him before he even had a chance to react.

"Timeslip!"

Fate's eyes widened slightly as reality seemed to grow _thin_. The cat girl whose name he seriously doubted was anything even remotely resembling Dani Ellesane approached.

"Hello, Fate."

"Who _are_ you?"

The cat girl carefully removed the fake cat ears from her head, followed that with the tail, and finally took off the glasses.

Fate's eyes narrowed. He knew who she was, of course, now that the magic disguise glasses were gone; he had done his research properly. What concerned him most, however, was how she could have grown to be so incredibly powerful without anyone having witnessed the immense amounts of training necessary...and now that he thought about it, she didn't only _look _like she was still fourteen, she actually _was_ fourteen. To say he was confused would be like saying the sun is a _little _hot. He kept his face carefully blank so as not to give anything away, however. An absurd proposition, he knew, especially in the current circumstances. Sure, he could easily escape the vines holding him, but this girl, Hasegawa Chisame, who should have only been capable of casting intermediate-level spells at best, had somehow created a bubble of reality and separated it from the world itself.

"Well, I must say you don't look very surprised," Chisame said.

"...what is your objective?" Fate asked.

Chisame cocked an eyebrow as if to say '...that's it?' She grinned, a sardonic, infinitely knowing grin, and Fate's mouth went dry. Not that he let her know this, mind you.

"This is about you, Fate. You and your boss."

* * *

"So, you're Kasuga Misora, the one that killed Marlowe in the old world? You're quite the looker...maybe I'll let you stay on as my slave after I drain you dry!" Chaser Felix, number two of the Great Vampire Lords, said, lunging forward.

Misora rolled to the side, coming up with her pactio card in hand as she turned to face him. "How are you related to the vampire I killed in Rome?" she asked, her voice carrying a sound that would have let anyone who knew her know it was time to run for the hills.

Chaser grinned toothily, showing off his sharply pointed canines. "He was a friend of mine, someone with similar views on how the world should be. A good ally, in other words."

Misora didn't say a word; rather, her face took on a frightening transformation. Her seemingly eternal grin faded to nothing, replaced with a slight frown; the playfulness always present in her eyes disappeared without a trace, and her brows grew knitted and her gaze took on a razor sharp edge.

"You sent him."

Chaser stood there a moment, looking at the girl and the frightful change that had come over her demeanor; even he could tell that it wasn't the sort of look this girl carried often. Her words hadn't been a question. What exactly had he stumbled upon, here? Might as well push a little and see...

"Yes, I did."

Chaser's grin widened a little. _That_ brought about a reaction. The girl's frown opened slightly to reveal a thin glimpse of her teeth and her gaze, if possible, grew even harder.

"Who are you?"

"Chaser Felix, number two among the Great Vampire Lords."

"Adeat."

He watched as a pair of stylish black leather boots appeared on her feet, replacing the worn traveling boots she had been wearing. 'This looks like fun...!' he thought devilishly.

"What's wrong? Did your boyfriend die? Family? Teacher? I'm afraid I don't tend to keep up with that sort of thing, it's so unimportant to the...to the...the..." She was gone. So was his left arm, from the elbow down.

"Graaarghh...!" he growled out, biting the sound off halfway as he clutched at his stump with his remaining hand. He looked around wildly. 'Where did she go?' he thought furiously. How _dare_ she take his arm...! "I'm going to kill you for that!"

There was a brief sound of something moving through the air and he jerked to the side just in time to keep his head on his shoulders as Misora flew past, barely clipping his shoulder. Chaser was spun around by the impact and hit the ground, but was up on his feet again in an instant. A moment of strain and his missing arm was regrown and as good as new. Again, Misora was nowhere in sight. Maybe it was time to start taking this fight seriously...? A brief hint of movement at the edge of his vision saved his life as Misora launched herself at him again.

'I've got your measure now, girl,' he thought as he threw himself down, barely managing to make her miss again.

"What's the matter, girl? Did Marlowe take your best friend as his lover?" he shouted, hoping to make her even more angry. An angry combatant was a combatant who had just lost their edge. But...something was strange. Normally when he played with his opponents like this, they were screaming incoherently by this point. This girl was dead silent.

Again, his spectacular vision saved his life; a brief sense of motion prompted him to whirl around and just so happen not only get out of her way but also put himself in the perfect position to snag her leg as she went by and fling her down into the ground with her own momentum. She let out an echo-y grunt of the sort brought about by a good solid hit to the ribs, and then he drove his fist down into her kidneys with enough force that it should have gone all the way through; as it was, he hit a tremendously strong barrier of some sort and she merely shrieked and jerked away, managing to give him a _very_ solid kick to the chin that staggered him even through his shields.

He stumbled away for perhaps ten feet and then, much to his surprise, fell over in the street and lay there for a moment, unable to gather the strength to stand. Had the blow really been that powerful...? He couldn't seem to think properly, but he could see her staggering to her feet and heavily favoring the side he had struck. He got to his feet and turned to face her across thirty feet of empty street.

"What's the matter? Tripped and fell, little girl?"

* * *

Misora focused all her energy on returning to her feet, no matter how badly she hurt. Getting thrown into the ground had hurt bad enough, but that last punch...if she hadn't had her body reinforcement up, it would've killed her easy.

She pushed herself up onto her hands and knees, trying desperately to ignore the unspeakable pain in her lower back even while it made her head swim.

"Ugh..."

"Ha!"

She tensed up, as the vampire strolled over and stood just out of kicking range. Not that she could manage to do much in her current condition, anyway.

"Well, that took all the fight out of you, didn't it?"

Misora clenched her teeth and focused on trying to concentrate as much regenerative magic as she could manage to the place where he had struck her.

"Hm...are you kneeling? Is this your way of showing that you have surrendered?"

The stopgap measure to reduce the pain in her back to manageable levels abruptly kicked in, and Misora's mind cleared a little. Now with the fog of pain temporarily gone, she found she could actually _think_ again... 'Time to shut that idiot vampire up,' she thought. She pulled herself upright and wobbled for a moment before she got her balance back. "Ugh." She knew that kidney shot had taken a lot out of her; if she didn't end this quick, things could get ugly.

They stood facing each other fifteen feet apart in the street.

"So, are you ready to admit defeat?" Chaser asked.

Misora frowned in distaste. "No thanks," she said, and spit out a little blood.

"You know you have no chance of defeating me, right? I'm not like Marlowe. He was strong, but he was never particularly bright..."

Misora's frown intensified.

"I heard all about it, you know. The way he killed all those girls...it's a shame, a real shame to waste resources that way. Every death there was pointless." He stopped for a moment upon seeing the expression of rage that Misora accidentally let slip for an instant. "Ah, I see! I'm sure you lost some friends there; I apologize for my pawn's actions. Prey is prey, and there is no point in keeping it around if you are just going to throw it out like trash," he said, putting particular emphasis on the word 'trash'. His speech was interrupted by Misora's knee when it made contact with his chin.

Misora hit the ground on her feet, bouncing lightly to dissipate the excess energy she had accidentally put into her attack. '...I shouldn't have done that,' she thought bitterly to herself. She had let her emotions get the better of her again...but that vampire had no right to speak of her friends, of Nina and Isabella and the others who had died, that way. "They weren't _trash_," she growled out more fiercely than she had intended.

Chaser picked himself up and made a show of dusting off his clothes. "Not trash? How amusing; all you humans are trash. Now then, since you're so enthusiastic, let us begin in earnest. Basilisk! Petrifying beast! Lend me your power! Basilisk's Breath!" he chanted.

With her injuries, Misora barely managed to scramble out of the way as a rush of magic power shot out in front of the vampire in an expanding wave, turning everything in its path to creaking light gray stone, from the road to plants and houses...and anyone still hiding in them. She couldn't see how far the effect extended, but it evidently went quite far

"You bastard...!" she managed breathlessly. "There are still _people _ in there!"

"Oh? Well that's their problem isn't it? Who cares what happens to trash? Pitfall!" he shouted, snapping his fingers. Misora felt the ground shift under her and threw herself to the side, barely managing to avoid falling into the shadowy pit he had created. "Pitfall! Pitfall!"

Desperate to get far enough out of his range to avoid the pits opening under her feet, she kicked off as soon as she set foot on a piece of solid ground and jumped hard, launching herself away and through the air to land on top of one of the buildings he had petrified earlier. As soon as she set foot on the roof, however, a large section of it shattered, dropping her down inside amid a rain of sharp stone shards. She brought up hard against the floor, nearly breaking her body reinforcement spell. The floor collapsed, dropping her down to the next one; her body reinforcement _did_ break then. That floor broke in turn, as did the next and the next, until she wound up at ground level, moaning in pain as razor sharp shards of stone fell down on her from above. She barely had the presence of mind to roll out of the way of a particularly large piece, which exploded on impact, pelting her with splinters. She rolled into a ball to protect her face and screamed as the jagged edges bit into her skin.

"Are you still alive?" Chaser shouted from out in the street. "I must say, that was one of the most spectacularly _stupid_ things I have ever seen!"

She slowly uncurled herself and gingerly tried to brush the pieces of stone from her bloody and ripped skin and clothing, unable to keep the tears from her eyes. A strangely familiar shape on the other side of the room caught her eye and she looked up. It was a person...a little kid. Petrified. Hanging on to what had been, until she fell through the roof and brought half of it down with her, its mother. _She had killed the kid's mother. _She barely had time to understand just what she had done before Chaser began speaking again.

"Well, I hope you're out of there by now, because petrification isn't the only trick I have up my sleeve! Watch this! _Shatter!_"

Misora's eyes widened as everything around began to vibrate and crack. Her gaze shot back to the petrified kid as cracks shot up and down its body. "N...no...! You can't do that! You can't-" Misora covered her eyes and screamed as the child abruptly shattered.

* * *

Chaser stood there in the street a moment, watching as the section of street and housing he had petrified shook and collapsed in a massive spray of jagged shards of razor-sharp stone, reducing three hundred feet of the city to powdery rubble. He wondered briefly if she had survived, but quickly dismissed the thought. It would take someone _special_ to live through something like that; even a powerful mage would have a hard time merely surviving, much less remaining a threat! He had first hand experience as to that, having sent over a dozen powerful mages to their graves through just such a method; no one had ever survived his particular style of petrify and shatter. Assuming the target survived the petrification, the sheer _volume_ of flying shards when he cast Shatter was more than enough to batter any mage's shields into collapse.

He watched for a moment anyway, just in case a miracle had occurred, and sure enough the pile of debris where the girl had fallen through the building shifted. He found himself gaping and moved a little closer. "Are you still alive in there? Well done!"

The mass shifted again, starting a small landslide along the left side. The ground shook as if from a distant explosion, and debris exploded outward an instant later, filling the air with blinding stone dust. Chaser backed away to what he figured was a safe distance and waited.

Slowly, a figure took shape in the dust cloud; first it was just a shape, moving slowly, darker than anything around it. He watched as it moved uncertainly closer, quickly becoming recognizable as a human silhouette in the dust as it staggered back and forth, arms hanging limp. A moment later, Misora emerged from the dust cloud, almost unrecognizable from mere moments before. Her clothes were ripped and shredded by the sharp edges of shattered stone; her skin torn and bleeding, her eyes wide and all but unseeing as she looked blankly off into the distance, her face all but expressionless under the blood and rock dust that covered her from head to toe. While the shards hadn't killed her, the collapse of the building on top of her had gone a long way toward that goal, apparently.

Chaser whistled. "Now that is an unpleasant sight. I'm afraid I must withdraw my earlier offer of making you my slave. I can't have such a damaged product wandering around my home, after all. There is no other choice but to kill you now...goodbye, Kasuga Misora," he said, stalking toward her with a toothy grin on his face.

* * *

The image of the poor petrified child breaking ran through her mind over and over as she struggled out of the debris and into the dust cloud. The poor, innocent child...it probably hadn't even realized what was happening. She wondered idly if the petrification had been quick or lingering, and hoped for the child's sake it had been quick; a slow petrification, where one's body became unresponsive inch by terrifying inch, was too horrible to think about, especially on a kid. She stumbled out of the dust cloud and paused, blinking in the sunlight. For some reason, she couldn't think very well. She felt all weak, and sticky too. She slowly looked down at her clothes and blinked stupidly. '...why are they red? I don't remember having this many red clothes. Oh no! They're ripped! I'll have to get mommy to...get mommy to... to fix them...to...

"Now that is an unpleasant sight."

The voice went a long way toward dragging her back to reality, and she looked up at the speaker as he babbled on about something or other. A word swam up out of the recesses of her mind. _Vampire_. She clenched her fists and cried out as a stone sharp buried in the palm of her left hand cut deeper. The abrupt pain jolted her back to the present and she realized Chaser Felix, one of the Great Vampire Lords, was bearing down on her, and would kill her, drain her dry, as soon as he got close enough. She shook her head to clear it and staggered, crying out again as a million cuts and bruises screamed for attention. There was no question of repeating her earlier reinforcement trick here; her injuries now were too severe, too widespread. She clenched her teeth and stood swaying for a moment, trying to get her balance back, realizing for the first time that she just might die in this place. It wasn't the way she had wanted to go, of course, surrounded by friends and family and generations (MANY generations) of grandchildren, but...she focused again on the rapidly approaching vampire. 'If I'm going down here, I might as well take him down with me,' she thought woozily. She shuffled her feet and realized she still had on her pactio artifact, the Seven League Boots. That made things easy. Directed force, that was the secret of using them. She had figured it out all on her own, too, a long time ago.

Chaser Felix, number two of the Great Vampire Lords, stopped just out of arm's reach. "So, you survived. I must admit I am impressed. Not many could—Graaah!" he screamed as Misora dropped to the ground and kicked him in the knee, splitting his leg in two. He hit the ground and Misora kicked him in the arm with all the force she could muster before he could recover. Chaser's arm exploded from the pressure and she staggered back to her feet as he screamed.

She quickly kicked his other leg, removing it as well while the vampire writhed in agony. She stood there for a moment, looking down at him as he squealed, and almost felt sorry for him. _-cracks shot up and down __the petrified child's body-_ Almost. How many times had that scene been replayed? How many people had been hiding in the buildings he had destroyed? How many people had he killed that way in the past? She felt something grab her ankle and looked down to see that he had managed to wrap his fingers around it. He had no leverage, though...she had seen to that, she knew how to kill a vampire. What you had to realize, she had discovered, was that vampires were people too; they could be tricked, they could be lied to, they didn't like pain. And, strangely enough, they needed legs to stand up. If you could cause a vampire enough pain or render him immobile, it would take a moment for him to recover; that was the time to strike. He looked up at her with pleading eyes. She kicked his arm and he screamed again as it splattered across the road.

"You killed them all..."

She kicked his head and stomped his ribcage over his heart, and it was over, just like that.

* * *

Tregani and Shirabe had been forced to stop again while Tregani struggled to catch his breath; a feat that was becoming more and more difficult every time they stopped. Shirabe had just helped lower him to the ground when, perhaps half a mile to the west, a flare shot up into the sky, trailing red smoke.

"That was the signal to retreat," Tregani said, his voice strained. "Here, help me up Shirabe, we have to get back to HQ..." He dragged himself to his feet, gasped in pain, and almost collapsed before Shirabe got to him.

"You have to be careful," she said, pulling his arm around her neck and her arm around his waist to help support him. "Let's go; Fate-sama wouldn't order a retreat unless it was an emergency."

Tregani nodded and the two set off toward the building Fate had chosen as a base, halfway across the city from their current location.

* * *

Kagetaro saw the flare streak across the sky and glanced back down at Sarah, who was at that moment lying unconscious at his feet. He frowned thoughtfully under his mask, thinking about what he should do next. The girl was badly hurt and all but burned out after her ridiculous display earlier; she needed medical attention immediately. He knelt down and checked her pulse. Weak, but steady. Pupils slightly dilated but still within the acceptable range. Her temperature was running high, but that was common when using large amounts of ki. He was in the process of picking her up when he sensed a presence behind him and paused.

"And who might you be?" he asked, not turning around. Something told him this was someone he didn't want to fight.

"A friend of hers," a girl's voice said from somewhere behind him.

"She needs healing, or at the very least medical assistance," he said gently lower her back to the ground.

"Yes."

He waited a long moment, then stood up and turned around, and found himself looking at a rather unremarkable girl. Not particularly tall or short; not ugly, but not particularly attractive either. Just...a teenage human girl. And yet something about her sent his instincts screaming... He looked again at the rapidly dissipating smoke from the signal flare in the sky, and sighed. "I trust you are capable of helping her?"

Chisame grinned crookedly and nodded, and Kagetaro nodded in return.

"I understand."

He turned and walked away from the fallen girl and her monster of a friend and retreated into the shadows, where he could move much more quickly. Now...time to get his allies out of the trouble they were no doubt in.

* * *

Rhett crouched behind an overturned wagon, hoping desperately that the other man, Sir Robert the Dragonslayer, wouldn't find him.

"Where have you run off to?" the old man asked loudly, not twenty feet away. "I can smell you!"

He tried to wipe the sweat from his forehead with badly shaking hands. That old man was a _monster_...! If he had known the truth about him, he would have insisted on facing him three on one. The man had to be at least sixty, but he had outmatched Rhett at every aspect of combat.

"Come out, boy! I will find you eventually!" Sir Robert shouted, not ten feet away now. Rhett shook in terror at the possibly and almost jumped out of his skin when he heard an abrupt movement from the old man, who was now standing just a few feet away on the other side of the wagon he was hiding behind.

"A flare...?" Sir Robert said to himself.

Rhett looked hopefully up at the sky and quickly spotted the signal flare telling him to retreat. Now, if he could just slip away—he shifted slightly and his sword sheath bumped against the side of the wagon. He froze, his eyes clamped shut, praying the old man hadn't heard the tiny noise. He listened to the old man's slow, steady footsteps as he walked around the front of the wagon and paused.

"I found you."

Rhett opened his eyes to find himself staring down the blade of Caliburn, the sword of Arthur, carried by Sir Robert on his mission to return it to the King of Dragons. He swallowed the lump in his throat and tried to speak. "L-look, I-I'm s-sorry about all that b-before-"

"Be silent."

Rhett got silent.

Sir Robert fixed him with a glare. "You have no honor. You have no idea of the role of a true swordsman, you have no concept of courage or gallantry. Instead, you have stained the blood of your ancestors and the name of swordsmen everywhere with your crimes and the blood of the innocent! You have no remorse for the damage you have done, I can see it in your eyes! All you feel is the fear of death! Face it like a man and accept the punishment for your crimes!"

Rhett cringed back and scrambled to his feet, backing away frantically. "I-it's not like that, I swear! I'll make it up!"

Sir Robert followed right after him. "How? How do you plan to 'make it up' to those who have died unjustly due to your actions?" he demanded. He gave Rhett a hard shove and knocked him to the ground again. He moved to stand over him, holding his sword ready for a killing strike. "Are you ready?"

Rhett tried to back away, but his back was to the wall of a stable of some sort. He looked around frantically for something, anything he could use to get out of this situation. He wished desperately that he still had his sword, but it was currently lying in two pieces out in the street, where Caliburn had broken through it with ease. His eyes strayed to the pile of that morning's manure waiting to be carted off, drew his leg in close, and kicked Sir Robert in the knee.

The older man fell to one knee, cursing, and Rhett threw a handful of manure into his face and drew the dagger he always kept in a hidden sheath in his boot and drove it into Sir Robert's side; it was a clumsy thrust and probably didn't hit anything important, but he knew it had to have hurt because Sir Robert let out a roar and clamped down on his dagger-hand. Rhett tried to draw the dagger out to have another go, but Sir Robert's grip was like steel.

"You stupid old bastard...! _You're _the one who's gonna die here!"

Sir Robert said nothing, only grinned maniacally in that way only the well aged can truly manage, and lifted Caliburn. Rhett tried to jerk his hand out of the old man's grip, but couldn't; he had no choice but to try and keep the old guy's sword-arm far enough away with his free hand while waiting for him to weaken enough from blood loss to escape.

The remained there for several long moments, straining against each other, each trying to get the upper hand and neither giving so much as an inch, when a dark figure stepped out of the shadows. Black ribbons shot toward Sir Robert and he cursed, throwing himself out of the way. He rolled with it and came up facing the two, Caliburn at the ready.

"Yeah, screw you old man, you're gonna die!" Rhett screamed, darted toward Sir Robert with his dagger held in a reversed grip with the point down. One of Kagetaro's ribbons shot in front of him and brought him up short. "What are you doing? We've got him! Let's finish it!" Rhett demanded as he turned to his ally.

"You mistake my intentions," Kagetaro replied, disgust showing through in his tone. "Fate has launched the retreat signal; we are to return to base."

"But we've _got_ him...!"

Kagetaro ignored Rhett and turned to Sir Robert. He offered a formal bow. "My apologies, sir knight, but I am afraid I must cut this battle short."

Sir Robert watched warily, but lowered Caliburn. "No tricks?" Kagetaro shook his head slightly, and Sir Robert nodded. He turned his attention on Rhett, who took a step back almost without realizing he had done it. "_You," _Sir Robert said, pointing at him, "I will see again. And when I do, I will visit upon you the justice that you have so long evaded. Do what you can to make your peace before that time; you will not escape again."

Sir Robert turned on his heel and stalked away, sheathing Caliburn as he went, leaving Kagetaro and Rhett behind.

* * *

Gilles and Raddyn stood facing each other, battered and bloody, across twenty feet of broken rooftop.

"...this is my last knife. I can't believe you made me use my last knife...!" Raddyn said breathlessly, bleeding from a dozen wounds.

Gilles simply stood there watching him, his head hanging, hair stringy with sweat clinging to his skin.

They launched at each other and Gilles' blood sword clashed against Raddyn's knife, chipping the blade. Both combatants staggered away from each other, utterly exhausted, and Raddyn laughed crazily, shaking his head.

"You're getting tired, right?" he said as he collapsed against a chimney, barely managing to stay upright. "That sword of yours is getting dull...!"

Gilles grimaced as he staggered back a safe distance from the knife-wielding lunatic. It was true, what the man was saying; his blood sword was indeed becoming dull. He had lost too much blood; he was far too exhausted. Using his family's secret forbidden blood magic was a draining and dangerous prospect even in the best of times, but to have to fight someone like Raddyn, well...he would just have to make do, somehow. It wasn't as if Raddyn wasn't obviously on his last legs as well; the man was covered in blood and couldn't even manage to walk straight.

Raddyn staggered toward him and broke into what could only charitably be considered a run, and Gilles moved to meet him halfway. Their blades clashed again and again, and then Raddyn's knife broke and he threw the hilt at Gille's head. It struck and Gilles staggered back, dazed. His blood sword collapsed and Raddyn was on him, kicking, punching, and biting, and the two rolled around on the roof, each doing his best to beat the other into oblivion. Raddyn grabbed him by the hair and slammed his head back into the roof, but Gilles jammed his knee _hard_ into Raddyn's groin. The man let out a piercing screech and jerked away, and Gilles staggered to his feet, coming up with a brick. Raddyn rose to meet him, and Gilles smashed it into his forehead.

Raddyn dropped like a rock and slid all the way to the edge of the roof before bringing up sharply against a gargoyle.

Gilles staggered up to the fallen man and stood over him for a long moment. Then he kicked him hard in the stomach.

"Arrgh! You *cough* you'd kick a man when he's down...?" Raddyn wheezed, blood pouring from the ragged cut he had received from the edge of the brick.

Gilles kicked him again, targeting a wound on his side. "Every time," he wheezed. *kick* *kick* "You see..." *kick* "...Misora's pure, untouchable by someone like you or me..." *kick* "...even after all the people she's been forced to kill. She hates killing. Me?" *kick* *kick* *kick* "I couldn't care less." This time he put his boot on Raddyn's head and ground the side of his face down into a broken roof tile below, making the man scream. "I don't mind making someone bleed either. And besides," he said, adding a few more kicks to Raddyn's kidneys for emphasis, ignoring the man's screams. "Someone has to protect that innocence of hers. Now tell me what I want to know, and I'll kill you _before_ I push you off the edge."

* * *

Raddyn whimpered in pain as he clung to the gargoyle. That drop from the roof...most people didn't know it, but falling from that height wasn't enough to kill a person instantly; it all depended on how you hit. More often than not, the person who had been pushed off simply writhed around on the ground for fifteen or twenty minutes first. He had tested it extensively over the years; the only way to guarantee a swift death by falling was to land on your head, and even that didn't always work.

Gilles kicked him in the kidneys again and he screamed. This wasn't how it was supposed to go...! _Raddyn_ was the one who was supposed to be getting a few good kicks in and pushing people off of roofs, not some sunken eyed lunatic like this Gilles guy!

"Tell me!"

Raddyn clung to the gargoyle with all his might as Gilles gave him a hard push. "What are you trying to do, kill me?" he screeched.

Gilles just looked at him with his unemotional eyes. "That's the idea."

Raddyn spat out some of the blood in his mouth and swore brokenly.

"I believe that will be enough."

Both combatants turned to look at the speaker, and Raddyn took the opportunity to kick Gilles' knee while his attention wavered.

Gilles let out a shout more of surprise than pain as he collapsed and fell off the edge of the roof, barely managing to grab a hand hold at the last instant.

Raddyn thought briefly about stomping on his fingers to make him fall, but Kagetaro shook his head and gestured for him to follow.

* * *

Gilles hung dangling from the edge of the roof for a long ten count before his already weak grip started to loosen. His left hand, slick with sweat and blood, slipped, and he dangled for perhaps five seconds by his right hand before he lost his grip completely and fell. He hit a stone ledge almost thirty feet down that broke his arm and half a dozen ribs and drove a pained squeak from his lungs, then hit the ground hard twenty feet below that.

He lay there for a long moment, his body shaking and twitching of its own accord while he looked up at the sky, whitish-blue in the afternoon heat. He knew he was in bad shape; he couldn't feel his extremities, and he couldn't really think properly. His whole body had dissolved into one gigantic mass of pain, but all he could think about was Misora. Would she be okay? He hoped distantly that she wouldn't be too sad when she heard about his death. She cared about people too much; _that_ was her problem. Then again, that was part of what made her so endearing, he supposed as he idly watched an ant crawling across the ground toward him. A shadow fell over it and he saw someone move into the range of his vision. He didn't have the energy to look up at whoever it was, so he just laid there.

"You're still alive, right? Make a noise if you're still alive."

It took a moment, but he worked up the energy to make a pitiful little groan. He knew that voice. That cat girl Dani had returned for him...it was a little daunting to think about what she might have in mind.

"Good. Now I can return you to the way you were, but it's going to hurt. A lot."

Gilles would have shrugged if he could. Pain wasn't new; pain was nothing. He moaned again to signal his understanding.

"Okay."

* * *

Chisame found Ruden hovering around Ava while a harried looking old man in a bloody apron tried his best to fix her wounds. With few magical healers in a city teeming with injured civilians, she supposed this man was the best Ruden could find. She walked up and pushed Ruden aside.

"How is she? Still alive?"

Ruden gave her a horrified look, but the old man looked up and nodded. "Yes, but not for long. I've reattached her arm, but I don't think she'll be around long enough to worry about the scar. She's lost far too much blood, and that stomach wound..." He turned his attention to Ruden. "I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can do with what I have here at my disposal. Maybe if we were in Megalomesembria, with the best healers and proper facilities, she could be saved, but as it stands...it's impossible. I'm sorry," he said, standing up in creaky stages as he dug his knuckles into his back. "A shame...she was a beautiful girl."

Ruden appeared stunned, but Chisame ignored him as she turned to the old doctor. "It's okay, I'll take care of it. Go on and help whoever needs it," she said as she watched him go. When he was out of sight, she turned back to Ava and Ruden, and found that he was seated on the ground, cradling the fallen girl in his arms, rocking gently back and forth. She probably should have been surprised to see him crying, but wasn't.

"She is still alive, right? Ruden? _Ruden_," she said sharply. He looked up at her dully and nodded, and she nodded in return. "Good. Now lay her down right there. Do it," she said, irritation starting to get the better of her in spite of the state of Ruden's mind at having just lost the love of his life.

When Ava was laid out on the ground, Chisame motioned for Ruden to move back out of the way. "Now listen to what I say: This may be quick, but it will _not_ be pleasant. To see _or _experience. I suggest you look away now," she said, shooing him away.

She kneeled next to Ava and lightly slapped her cheek to get her attention. The woman was deathly pale, and her eyes were wandering all over the place. "This is going to hurt, but I'm going to make you better. Be strong."

* * *

Misora lay in the dirt and rubble where she had collapsed, looking idly at Chaser Felix's headless, limbless torso as it slowly began to decay, flaking off into bits of white ashy powder. That was the way you knew a vampire was dead, she recalled; their body started to turn to ash after a while. No ash, no vampire death. "I think," she mumbled aloud. Ooh, ashy death. Deathy ash. Ahaha... "Must be the blood loss," she said aloud after a moment. "I'm getting all derilious. Derilious. Delirious, I mean."

She just laid there for a moment before her mind worked its way back around to the others. Chisame had run off, chased by Fate. Where was she? Was she okay? What about the others? She hoped someone would tell Cocone about what had happened to her; she couldn't bear to think of the girl waiting for her, not even knowing she had died. Selfish maybe, but true. True-y truth. Truth. Truthy. Yes, Truthy truth.

"Lood bloss again~"

She didn't even bother to correct herself this time.

"Ah..."

She didn't want to die. She _really_ didn't. She quite liked living; besides, all her friends were here. Well, except for Nina and Isabella and all the girls from the dormitory back in Rome. They were all dead. Didn't quite explain why it looked like Nina and Isabella were sitting there beside her, looking all concerned.

"You guys're dead, don' wurry bout meh," she said, weakly flopping her arm around to illustrate her point in a way that had made perfect sense a moment before...if only she could recall just how.

"Yuh shou'nt wurry, N'na," she said, eyeing the friendly girl who had always reminded her of Cocone. Except Nina had always been a friendly, people person while Cocone had always been quiet and withdrawn. "Ah wsh yuh coulda met'r," she mumbled. "Wuzzat Is'bella? Wha're yuh wurr'd bout, 'm dyin' s'all..."

"No, you are not."

Misora looked up at Chisame. "Hey Chi'smay, thiz' N'na 'n Is'bella. Zay h'lo..."

Chisame knelt down beside her and pulled her upright, ignoring her delirious protests. "Misora, listen to me. This is important. I can help you, but it is going to really hurt. Do I have your permission?"

Misora blinked up at her blearily and abruptly coughed, spewing blood all over the place. "zokay..."

Chisame nodded and pulled out her pactio card and summoned her mouse sprites. "Negi, Daiko, Shirataki, prepare the overwrite functions. Kincha, Hanpe, set up the barriers. Konnya, Chikuwafu, you're with me. Understood?"

The sprite mice nodded and began preparing.

Misora looked up at her again. "Whuh're yuh doin'?"

Chisame looked down at her, but avoided meeting her eyes. "Making sure you survive."

"Oh, tha'z nice."

Chisame glanced down at her, then quickly looked away. "You're too badly damaged to do this the easy way, so I guess you get to see something I've been holding back for a while now."

"Ooh, neat..."

Chisame stepped back to get a little space and held her arm up outstretched above her head, with the palm up. Konnya and Chikuwafu floated up and positioned themselves on either side of her hand. "World of my own, come to me. Push this area aside and become reality; a world of my own, the world of my mind, extraordinary microcosm, the virtual world, I summon you!"

Misora watched, dizzy from the blood loss, as the sky and buildings shimmered out of existence, replaced by the deepest most beautiful shade of blue she had ever seen. It took shape in an enormous dome high above them while dark, fishy shapes of tremendous size moved through its depths. A slow, groggy look around revealed that the dusty, dirty street she had been in before was gone, replaced by clean white stone like marble, shot through with swirls of dark blue, green, and black that occasionally glowed as power flitted through them, while Chisame stood before her, looking far more natural and relaxed than Misora ever recalled seeing her.

"'s pr'tty," she mumbled.

Chisame smiled slightly and looked away. "I did some research on it; it's called a reality marble. It's a pretty rare ability, from what I can tell," she said. Almost as if on cue, the mice sprites zipped over to her. "Negi, Daiko, Shirataki, are the overwrite functions ready?"

"Yes, Chiu-sama!" the three sprites said together.

Chisame nodded. "Good. Kincha, Hanpe, the barriers?"

"Yes, Chiu-sama!" they said.

"Good." She glanced at Konnya and Chikuwafu, who floated beside her, and nodded to herself. "Good." Finally, she turned to Misora, who suddenly found herself strapped to a hospital bed with monitoring equipment hooked up to her.

"Ooh, 's neat..."

Chisame smiled tiredly. "Yes, it certainly is. Now this won't be pleasant, but it _will_ save your life. Are you ready?"

Misora nodded absently and Chisame nodded sadly. "I'm sorry, Misora. Negi, Scan."

Misora jerked as purplish light erupted from her body for ten seconds, then vanished, leaving her panting and all but sobbing on the hospital bed.

"Compatibility with stored data?"

"Ninety-nine point nine nine nine nine eight seven one percent. It is within safety parameters, Chiu-sama."

Chisame nodded. "Good. Daiko, set up the personality and memory protections."

"Yes, Chiu-sama!" the sprite said as it zipped over above Misora. She spotted it and tried to shake her head no, but the sprite ignored her and Chisame jerked in sympathy as Misora writhed in agony with the power again coursing through her body. The process ended and Misora's body collapsed back on the bed, eyes blank and unseeing.

Chisame's throat went dry. This was the chancy part. "Daiko, success?"

"One hundred percent, Chiu-sama!"

She let out a breath she hadn't been aware of holding, and relaxed. The others hadn't needed such an in depth recomposition; she had been able to perform what they needed on site with a little help from her sprites. It had hurt, true, but even Ava had managed to only scream a few times. Gilles had been touchy, but his injuries were of a straightforward sort that didn't require this level of detail to fix. Misora, however, had been on death's door by the time she found her, suffering from dozens of wounds, three of which should have already killed her by the time Chisame found her and nine others that would have done the job by themselves within moments, not to mention the fact that it seemed every bone and tissue in her body had almost been crushed. It was a miracle she had gotten to her in time...and now, the dangerous part was over. All she had left was to finish it off. She shuddered. "Shirataki, begin copy/paste function."

"Yes, Chiu-sama!"

Chisame quickly looked away as the wounded areas of Misora's body were removed and replaced with the previous version she had collected back on the _Stalker Judith_. She hated when it came down to this; it was hell on everyone involved. She had tried all sorts of ways to make the process a little easier on those who had to suffer through it, but the human body just wasn't built to be so easily manipulated this way. Misora probably wouldn't walk again for _weeks_. But without someone like Konoka around, she would have died without question without this treatment. It was a horrible thing to do to someone she liked to consider a friend, but she had no choice. Misora had to survive.

"Process complete, Chiu-sama!" Shirataki reported.

"Good. Daiko..." she paused, closing her eyes and looking away. If Misora knew what was coming next, she would never have agreed to this. "D...Daiko, wake her up."

* * *

Misora was still screaming from the pains of massive recomposition when Chisame dismissed her reality marble some time later to reveal Fate standing nearby. Chisame looked up at him, her face cold and expressionless, and met his eyes. Her returned her gaze with his own cold expression, and nodded.

* * *

Misora swam up out of the sheer burning agony that engulfed her whole body long enough to catch a glimpse of Chisame leaving. She spotted Fate an instant later and her body was again wracked by pain, but she knew what she had just seen...Chisame, her old friend, her old classmate, who had saved her life more than a few times in the past, had just handed her off to an enemy, and didn't even bother to look back. She didn't have have long to think about it however, before another wave of torment washed over her body and she opened her mouth to scream.

* * *

Sir Robert found Sarah wandering around in the middle of the street, and together they ran into Scarlet on their way to the agreed-upon meeting place Misora had specified what seemed weeks ago. There, they found Ruden supporting Ava, but no sign of Gilles or Misora, not to mention Dani.

"Where are they?" Sarah asked. The city was silent but for the crying of the wounded on every street; the sounds of fighting were gone, the battle was over.

Scarlet shook her head and set about tending Sir Robert's wounds, all of which were minor.

Sir Robert, as the only one present with leadership experience, stepped up to the task of keeping everyone together during the post-battle jitters. "I don't believe Gilles or Misora would die so easily; my opponent was dangerous, but seemed singularly uninformed. But even had he been fighting with full intel, I doubt he would have worried me for long." He glanced around, and the others nodded.

"Even taken by surprise," Ruden said, his gruff voice catching everyone's attention, "Ava and I managed to defeat those who attacked us."

Sarah nodded. "Mine was really dangerous, I felt like my life was in danger, but..." she shrugged to show that since she was still alive...

Scarlet nodded as well. "Mine was a demon. I banished him back to the demon world," she said, obviously still stunned by what she had accomplished.

"What about Dani?" Sarah asked after a moment. The others glanced at each other. Dani Ellesane was a mystery. She was obviously capable, or she wouldn't have survived all the dangerous situations Misora had insisted on talking about. None of them had actually seen her do much in a fight, though.

"Dani's a traitor," said a new voice. Everyone turned to see Gilles staggering up, covered in blood but looking surprisingly healthy.

"What do you mean?" Sarah demanded.

"The Dani Ellesane persona is a disguise. She's a human. She healed me and I followed her; she healed Misora and gave her to the enemy." He looked from face to face, noting who looked surprisingly healthy in spite of being covered in blood. "Looks like she healed some of you too."

"...I thought she looked familiar," Sarah said after a moment. "The human girl who healed me. I knew I had seen her somewhere before, I just didn't think..."

"None of us did," Scarlet said bitterly. "I liked her; she seemed like a good person. Why would she..." She trailed off, not willing to say it.

"Did she give you an envelope too?" Sarah suddenly asked, looking at Gilles. He looked uncomfortable, but nodded. Ava and Ruden did too.

Sir Robert pulled two envelopes from his pack and passed one to Scarlet. "I found these in my pack when searching for bandages after my fight. She wrote that I must continue on with my quest, no matter what happens..."

"She left me directions to a place where I can find my dad. He's back in the old world, worried about me," Sarah said, choking up. "I r-really like you guys, but...I have to find my dad. I'm sorry, but..."

Sir Robert clapped her on the shoulder. "We understand, Sarah. You have been a fine ally and a good friend, and if you ever need assistance, you need only ask. " He looked around at the others. "That goes for all of you."

Everyone but Gilles looked at each other and nodded. Gilles, for his part, looked down at the ground, clutching the envelope Chisame had given him. He had read it, and he didn't like it at all. Scarlet opened her envelope and read the contents, her expression going from wary to surprise, and finally on to thoughtful. She carefully folded it and put it into her pack.

"...she says I'm supposed to go the old world too," Ava said from where she refused to let go of Ruden. Sarah looked up. "She says I'm supposed to find the Queen of Water, that I'll know her when I find her. That I'll know what to do..."

Ruden lowered his head. "I'm supposed to stay here, traveling the land. Her note says I must become stronger, more skilled with the powers at my disposal."

"I see you're holding an envelope as well," Sir Robert said. The others went quiet and looked at Gilles, who looked down at the ground. "What are your orders?"

Gilles snarled at the word 'orders', but quickly got himself back under control. "...she says there's a reason behind what she did," he said after a moment. "She also says I am to stay away from the rest of you, that I'm to go to a certain place and wait there until a certain person arrives, a long time from now. She says I'm supposed to support this person, or else..." '...or else the world will face an invasion it cannot fight off,' he thought, recalling the words in the note. Demons, most likely. A full scale demon invasion would certainly lay waste to Mundus Magicus, and when the demons gained control they would move on to Mundus Vetus. It was very disquieting to even imagine the possibility; he knew that there was something wrong with him, that normal people couldn't kill people as easily as he could, but just because he didn't lose sleep at night over those he killed didn't mean he wanted the whole world to die. He loved the world with all his heart and soul; he swore under his breath, prompting the others to look at him in surprise. Damn that Dani-whatever-her-name-was...she had known exactly how to get through to him. He could only hope that she was telling the truth. Especially about that last part at the very end of the note, written almost as an afterthought: _Don't worry about Misora, she will be around to the very end._

* * *

_**Author's Notes**: And so ends the Misora in the Magic World arc. If you have any thoughts you'd like to share, review, please. After this, we will go back to Mahora and the preparations for the Mahora Festival. But first, I'm going to take a little time off to take care of some things I've been neglecting for far too long._

_Also, keep an eye out for a side chapter closely related to this one that will (hopefully) be posted soon in my SW3 short story collection, Have A Slice of Cake, on this site.  
_


	36. Book 1 Epilogue

**Still Waters 3, Book 1: Drift, Epilogue**

* * *

Caro put Reiko down to stand on her own and the sickly girl staggered, reaching out blindly for something to stop her fall as her legs failed her. Her hand touched a wall, but her knees hit the ground an instant later.

'Ugh...what's wrong with me?' Reiko thought as her vision went hazy. It was now so late at night that it could actually be considered early, but she had pulled all nighters many times before; was her body really _that_ weak at this point...? She was dimly aware of Caro frantically talking to her, and raised her hand to wave the girl off as she put her other hand on the wall to steady herself and forced herself back up to her feet. She stood swaying for a moment, almost collapsed against the wall again, and finally righted herself.

* * *

The captured vampire Jonus Hart stood beside Zazie, handcuffed, his feet tied with a magic rope just long enough for him to shuffle along unaided, closely watching the strange girl who had captured him. He knew she was a medium; the signs were obvious. But this level of physical weakness was inexplicable. Unless...

Ah, yes. Carrick. The ghoul must have infected her. In fact, if he looked closely, her skin seemed unnaturally pale and gray. The spread of the infection throughout her body was well under way; it was no doubt too late to save her at this point. Then again, if she had been infected by Carrick, the best ghoul his old friend Zeph Castor, first among the Great Vampire Lords, had ever created, well...it was amazing she had survived the first night. He carefully filed this information away for future use and followed as the girl, Sakai Reiko, he recalled, led the way into the building.

* * *

They found the headmaster in the secret sub-basement levels, overseeing the healing of half a dozen gang members who had suffered serious injuries in the fighting. Jonus glanced around, disinterested for the most part while they waited for the headmaster to finish his task. The men lying on gurneys had been injured due to his overzealous actions, true, but his mind had been influenced by the blood of those two sisters, Lucy and Possum Cade; he wouldn't make the same mistake if such a situation came up again. Much to his surprise, Reiko somehow managed to pull herself together before the old man noticed their presence, and had even pasted on a sarcastic grin, looking for all the world as if she hadn't almost fainted from exhaustion five minutes before.

"Hello," the headmaster said as he shuffled up, ignoring Jonus, Zazie, and Caro in favor of giving Reiko a quick once over to make sure she was okay; it was obvious he saw right through her charade. Only when he was convinced she wasn't about to keel over did he take the time to greet the rest of them. He smiled slightly and nodded at Zazie, who looked back at him blankly, and then moved on to Caro, shuffling her feet as she tried to avoid calling attention to herself. The old man smiled widely at her and asked after her health, and finally moved on to him. "And who might you be?" he asked, something in his eyes belying the ever present smile on his face.

Jonus looked the old man in the eye and knew he had found, at the very least, an equal. This man deserved the truth, he felt...this was someone who would understand. Jonus closed his eyes, let out a deep breath, and when he opened them again, he had shed the pretense of the foolish, carefree wanderer he had always enjoyed so, so much and took on a persona he hadn't used in centuries, the _real_ Jonus Hart. "I am a Knight of the Old Order, who rode with the son of The Dragon; the Betrayer, known in these days as Jonus Hart, and we have many things to speak about."

Old Konoemon's lips stretched to form a long, sly smile as he met the humbled vampire's gaze and returned it without flinching, something that few had ever managed to do when Jonus Hart got serious. "Indeed, we do. Run along, Zazie-kun, Caro-chan, and thank you for your assistance." He nodded at Reiko. "Come along. You may hear anything he has to say."

Reiko nodded wearily and followed.

* * *

Cult Godanger, leader of the so-called Hecatean Mafia, staggered through the doors of the tavern that he had fled in disgrace what seemed ages ago. He made his way to the bar, almost completely unaware of the dozen pairs of eyes watching his every move, and all but collapsed onto a stool. He leaned against the bar for a moment, a haunted look in his eyes, and finally looked up at the man across the bar.

Dorsey, the owner and head bartender of this particular tavern and a man with whom Cult had clashed with regularity in the past, cocked an eyebrow as if to ask 'what the hell are _you_ doing here?' Cult had made a point, after all, of demanding protection money from him several times.

"...beer..."

Dorsey mentally shrugged, selected a glass, filled it, and set it before the man who seemingly insisted on being his enemy.

The tavern was so quiet one could have heard a pin drop as Cult stared at the mug for a moment, lifted it, and drained it in one long, slow, agonizing go. The others were murmuring by the time he put the glass back on the bar and wiped some spilt beer off of his chin.

"You can pay for that, right?" Dorsey asked, unamused.

Cult just looked up at him blankly for a moment without really seeing him. "I'm lucky to be alive," he stated to no one in particular. He shook his head to clear it of terrifying thoughts of that, that 'Fate', as he had called himself, and looked Dorsey in the eye. "I think...I think it's time we stop doing this," he began hesitantly, his gaze drifting around the bar, occasionally settling on one small thing or other as if he had never seen it before. Finally, his gaze returned to Dorsey. "Something's going on, something big, and we need to stop fighting or we're all going to die..."

Dorsey gave him a long, hard look, but ultimately nodded. "Explain."

* * *

At the secret gateport in the U.K., things went along as they normally did. Mages and tourists moved between the two worlds at intervals as regular as varying conditions allowed, and for the most part, everything moved smoothly. However, when the next group from Mundus Magicus came through...

"Excuse me, may I see your identification?" one of the mages who did security at the gateport said to a woman in a hood. Something about her furtive movements, or perhaps the manner in which she shot quick, nervous looks at every mage who happened to glance her way, had caught his attention. As he approached, he realized that something about her seemed familiar, even with her hood hiding half her face in shadow.

The woman stumbled, looked timidly at the guard as she clutched her cloak more tightly around herself, and backed up a step as he approached. Several other guards, quickly noticing the developing situation, materialized out of the crowd and began heading toward her.

"If you won't show me your identification, I am afraid I must ask you to come with me," the guard said as the others came closer and spread out to surround her.

The woman looked around frantically, the deep hood hiding her face showing nothing but an occasional glimpse of the bottom half of her face or the outline of her nose.

"Miss, I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to remove the cloak," the first guard said. He thought he might have figured out where he had seen her before; one of the wanted posters they were regularly sent to every gateport in order to keep dangerous fugitives from fleeing between worlds had had a picture of a beautiful young woman wanted for hideous crimes against the government involving water magic. Another glimpse of her face as she turned her head confirmed it. The guard shot a quick look around the area and cursed under his breath. Some of the regular people were watching now; that made things dangerous. If this woman was a dangerous as they had been warned...

The guards closed in and the woman cringed away. The air itself seemed to vibrate for an instant, and then every person in a fifty foot radius around the strange cloaked woman clutched at their stomach and collapsed, vomiting. People began to scream, and the cloaked figure muttered a frantic "I'm sorry!" and took off running.

She made it to the edge of the forest and quickly darted in amongst the trees, her travel-stained cloak helping to hide her in the shadows under the great trees.

She ran for a good ten minutes before she stopped, panting, to listen. The forest was silent; any pursuers had lost her or given up and gone back for reinforcements. Catching her breath from the impromptu run, she looked around at the unfamiliar trees of the Welsh countryside, and shivered. This was a whole new world she had never seen before; she had always dreamed of coming here to Mundus Vetus of course, especially as a child, but as she grew up those dreams had faded away as the responsibilities of day to day life took over. But now she was here, in this strange land, and she just wished...

"Ruden..."

She wished with all her heart that he had been able to come with her.

* * *

The Golden Fox youkai O Masashi twisted to check how he looked from behind in the big mirror in his home in Mundus Magicus. He took a moment to straighten his sash, part of the usual sort of clothing for a young up-and-coming youkai of means. He turned to the other man in the room. "How do I look?"

"Like a clown," Rex replied as he propped his feet up on the table. "And your ponytail's crooked."

Masashi clenched his jaw as he looked at himself in the mirror, holding up a smaller hand mirror behind his head so he could get a clear look at his hair, mentally reminding himself that he needed this man's assistance. Rex was one of the greatest fighters of the Red Fox tribe; he would need to search far and wide to find the other youkai's equal in combat. He was a suitable bodyguard; something that any youkai in Masashi's position who wished to convey an aura of importance required. "It's not a ponytail," he said through clenched teeth as he untied the leather string holding it back and set about rearranging it.

"Ponytail, foxtail, whatever," Rex said, waving his hand absently to show he didn't really care; his own hair was cut very short, the better to avoid someone grabbing it in a fight. He took a gulp of wine straight from the bottle Masashi had provided and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

"I'll have you know this is the traditional manner of wearing one's hair in the Golden Fox tribe when-"

"Look, I don't care," Rex said good naturedly. "There are more important things to worry about. Are you _sure_ that's the right sword?" he asked, pointing at the long katana in its excessively decorated sheath where it sat leaning against the wall.

Masashi stiffened as he looked at himself in the mirror. To be honest, he _wasn't _sure, not really. He had expected the great sword of youkai legend, the Sword of Gathering Cloud, called the Grasscutter by the uninitiated, to have more of a _presence_, to, to _react._ He hadn't taken the sword from its sheath since the day he had stolen it from the Shinmeiryu and fled back home through the use of the mirror—the Eight Hands Mirror, the second of the three great youkai treasures and the only one that allowed teleportation from place to place, long passed down among his family before it was stolen by that Silver Fox tribe bitch youkai queen five hundred years ago and only returned to him when he raided the Silver Fox tribe's sacred storehouse—and thus far it had yet to give any indication that it was anything but a normal sword. Extremely well made, true, and it carried a magical aura as well, but he was deathly afraid it was a fake, even if he would never admit it aloud. But it _looked_ the way a legendary sword should look; its elaborate decorations and the gems that encrusted its furniture reflected light in a variety of dazzling ways, truly a sword befitting a king! Not at all like the other swords he had seen there... He adjusted the leather string holding his noble foxtail back one last time, making sure his long golden hair fanned out prettily below it, and contented himself with planning the downfall of his enemies. The Shinmeiryu would have to go, but they were too large to deal with as he was now; he would have to wait until after he had claimed his rightful place as king of the youkai before he could face them. The Abe family in Kyoto was almost as bad with their control of the oni, but if he could locate the heir to the position of head of the family again and eliminate her, taking care of them was only a matter of waiting until the infighting crippled them. That damn Nakamura Sachiko, who had dared to kick him, _him_, of all people, back in Kyoto would have to die as well. Yes, yes. And that Silver Fox Miyoshi Youko, Youko Ninetales, his only true rival...he would have her as his concubine, humiliated before the world and with no chance of claiming his throne! Only then could he be truly happy, as king! He would found a dynasty that would outlast the ages, ruling over all the worlds until the end of time itself!

"It's almost time for your speech," Rex said, idly picking his teeth with the tip of a fine stiletto dagger he had picked up from an outcast Elysian noble years ago. The man hadn't been quite as good with a sword as he had thought he was. "Come on."

Masashi finished adjusting his hair and gave himself a good long look in the mirror, practicing his confident smile. He brushed his bangs to the side _just so_, and finally decided he was ready. It was time to declare his intentions to the Golden Fox tribe. He liked to think they would all be swayed by his overwhelming physical beauty and charisma, but he wasn't foolish enough to believe that their acceptance of his claim would be for that reason alone; most of them would just be happy to have a member of the Golden Fox tribe on the youkai throne again for the first time in almost twelve hundred years. He turned to Rex. "Come," he said. "Let us gain some followers." He would need them when he made his announcement at the rapidly approaching Youkai Festival, held every ten years on the holy ground back on Mundus Vetus.

* * *

In a large, heavily shadowed room lit by flicking candles and chandeliers dangling high above the enormous table, sat twenty two powerful vampires.

"So Chaser has been killed," Nineteenth Great Vampire Lord Judas Grimm said, his rough voice echoing in the chamber.

The others looked at each other. Among the three main factions of the Great Vampire Lords, Judas Grimm led the third, and his biggest supporter had been the Second Great Vampire Lord Chaser Felix, well known for his bloodthirsty manner of dealing with interlopers.

"We never replaced Marlowe after that incident in Rome in Mundus Vetus," Fourteenth Great Vampire Lord Renna Cross said, her voice like honey compared to Grimm's.

"Were you ever successful in contacting McDowell?" Twenty Fifth Great Vampire Lord Everitt Crowley asked, looking to the group's leader, First Great Vampire Lord Zeph Castor.

"No," Zeph replied with finality.

"And Jonus Hart has yet to return to us, correct?" Fifth Great Vampire Lord Sir Alexander Stratos, lately returned from Mundus Vetus, asked, smirking slightly as he watched Zeph Castor.

"That is correct," Zeph said, his expression showing annoyance as he drummed his fingers on the table.

"McDowell must join us," Eleventh Great Vampire Lord Caster Reed said in frustration. "She is the only one-"

"-who is worthy?" Sixth Great Vampire Lord Arturia Sader cut in sharply. "She is unpredictable, untrustworthy. She has nothing but disdain for our grand work."

Karina Dyne, Twenty Third among the Great Vampire Lords, rolled her eyes. "Your 'grand work' consists of nothing but hot air and false promises, Sader. You people only want to whittle our power among the mortals down to nothing. If your faction ever gains control I swear I'll-"

"You will what?" Zeph Castor said quietly. Something in his tone instantly quieted those who had been about to raise their voices.

Karina stuttered over her words as Zeph stood up and began to stroll slowly around the table toward her. The others nervously looked at each other across the table as he went.

"I-I'm sorry, I spoke out of turn, I-"

"Yes?" Zeph said, moving to stand behind her chair.

Karina shrunk down a little in it, clenching her fists in frustration, but maintained her silence while he stood there, ominously watching her with no expression on his face. When Zeph decided he had made his point as First among the Great Vampire Lords, he turned and strolled back to his seat at the head of the table with Judas Grimm to his left and Sir Alexander Stratos to his right. He sat down and slouched comfortably in his great chair.

"We must keep our heads in these trying times. I will not suffer internal conflict to continue in this manner," he said, his voice low and dangerous in a way most of those present had only heard a few times in the past. It was a far cry from the man's usual jocular, almost idiotic manner of speech, a manner of speech so prevalent in the man that it was easy to forget he was First among the Great Vampire Lords for a _reason_. They looked around the table, only fleetingly meeting each other's eyes before quickly looking away.

"We have lost two of our own, and perhaps a third," Sir Alexander Stratos said in the silence that followed, the earlier jabbing tone gone. "We are left with fewer active members than we have had since our founding. We must do what we can to locate Jonus Hart, as well as find suitable replacements." There was a general murmur of approval up and down the line. One of the few things they could all agree upon was the need to keep their numbers up. This need was so pressing, in fact, that they had made several additions recently that they never would have considered even a hundred years ago. Beatrice Honeydew, for example, was inducted after her sire was killed by some hero or other three years before. She was only a little over a hundred years old, still a baby, by vampire terms, idealistic and foolish to the core, and yet she held a great deal of power, even among vampires. Karina Dyne was another; cruelty and spite ran through her veins, and she and Beatrice got into fights almost any time they were in the same room. Everitt Crowley, an old vampire with a taste for the more obscure and perverse sorts of art and literature, had only joined up on the promise that he could look at all the stone age pornography he wanted, as long as he attended the meetings, joined them in the theoretical instance that they went into combat, and voted when called upon to do so.

Zeph looked out over the table again, mentally weighing the vampires under him. Barely half were trustworthy, but none present were as trustworthy as Jonus had been, or as much a friend. Sir Alexander Stratos and Judas Grimm were incredibly competent, but he didn't trust either one of them any more than he would trust a rabid dog. Each had a large following among the Great Vampire Lords, though Alexander's was the larger, almost as large as Zeph's following, in fact. Zeph mentally rolled his eyes. Sir Alexander wanted to pursue living openly among the mortals in peace, in _peace_! The man was a fool. The mortals would simply wait until the vampires had grown complacent and then doublecross the lot of them. Judas Grimm's ideas of returning the world to a state of fear, where vampires 'assumed their rightful place at the top' as he so often put it, was ludicrous as well; such a state of being had never existed, and never would. If such a state ever _did _come to be, Zeph well knew some hero would rise up and cast down the vampires. No, ruling _or_ living openly was a mistake. The way to do it, Zeph thought, was to do it from the background, pulling the strings of world leaders from so far back in the shadows of the stage that the mortals didn't even know you were there. That was the only way to ensure continued survival, as Zeph's own long experience had shown.

These thoughts and more ran through Zeph's head as he listened to the arguments and back and forth as the others tried to come up with names of suitable vampires to join their ranks. It was a pity Evangeline wasn't interested, he thought to himself. She would have been a great asset, one of the strongest among them. 'I should never have sent Carrick,' he thought bitterly. The loss of his most competent servant had been a shocking mistake on his part, a mistake on a level he hadn't made in _centuries, _easily on par with some of the monumental blunders he had made when he had first been turned and sought revenge. Carrick had been far more than a mere servant; he had had a hand in backroom politics and had been present at every planning session, real or intentionally misleading, that Zeph had held for the past two hundred years. The ghoul was a tremendous resource, a powerful ally and trusted adviser unlike any Zeph had ever known. And now he was gone, lost in a foolish attempt to raise their numbers.

He settled back into a more comfortable slouch in his chair, turning his attention back to the others. It looked like they would go on all night, and so much the better. When one became tired and frustrated from hours of argument, one tended to say things one might have wished to keep hidden. That was a major part of why he held these meetings, in fact. He was surrounded by naïve fools and idiots, and this was by far the best way to keep an eye on them. And they played so entertainingly off of each other as well...

* * *

Cleaned up and now recovered from the incident in Vairocana, Fate climbed the front stairs of a particularly tall office building in Megalomesembria. He had been here many times before and, he had no doubt, this would not be the last time.

Inside, the clerk at the desk waved him through to the elevator, and he soon found himself on the twenty-first floor, where he made his way through the hallways until he arrived at the office of a man he had known for years, yet who was still a mystery to him. He pressed a button on a box mounted on the wall beside the door, and a bored sounding woman replied almost instantly.

"Yes?"

"My name is Fate, I am here to meet with Ocali Kaunt," he said.

A moment later the woman replied. "Mister Kaunt will see you now," she said, and the door opened.

Fate stepped through, ignored the secretary in the outer office, and entered the door to Ocali's larger, inner office, the one where he conducted business matters. Fate had been to several of his other offices as well, his senate office and his home business office, and all of them gave off the same sensation of utter averageness; Fate couldn't decide if the man did it on purpose or not. He walked up to within five feet of the front of Ocali's desk and bowed quickly. "I am ready to make my report."

Ocali swiveled his chair back and forth a few times, creating an extremely irritating grinding noise; it appeared he would need a new chair soon. "Very good. You may begin."

Fate started with the most important part first. "We have captured the leader of the group that has been harassing your agents for quite some time."

"Excellent. Bring her to me for execution immedi-"

"That is unacceptable," Fate interrupted, carefully schooling his face into an utterly neutral expression. After what Hasegawa Chisame had told him...

Ocali just looked at him for a long, long moment. Never before had Fate interrupted him in such a manner, never before had _anyone_. "Explain," Ocali demanded.

Fate's unflinching gaze sharpened. "There are...issues with certain people in certain...positions of power," he said, unsure of how to answer the man without giving his new mission away.

Ocali's near perpetual small, false smile went away, and Fate found himself shifting slightly to better defend himself should the man attack. He didn't know why he felt this sudden sense of danger—after all, Ocali was aging, somewhat overweight, and seated in a chair on the other side of a desk—but he sensed danger nonetheless. Nevertheless, he continued. "Due to these circumstances and others, I have been forced to take her into protective custody," he said. "She is at a secure location of my choosing, safe from anyone who would attack her, and fully prevented from escape."

"I will find her," Ocali said, his voice utterly dead and emotionless to match his expression.

The sense of danger in the room multiplied tenfold, yet Fate refused to back down. "No, you will not. She is secure, she will not do any more harm to your agents."

"That is irrelevant."

"She is under my protection."

"Will that be enough, I wonder?"

The two of them stood staring at each other across that desk for several long, long minutes before Ocali finally sat back in his chair and began swiveling it slowly back and forth, grinding the ruined bearings together in an intensely irritating manner. "Very well; if you so choose, it will be. However, I will not forget your disobedience," he said, his tone surprisingly light. Any onlooker would have taken the threat for a joke, but Fate knew it was no joke. Ocali was always serious.

"If you insist," Fate replied, maintaining his calm expression only through long years of practice as he moved on to the next item of interest. "We suffered losses; Second among the Great Vampire Lords, Chaser Felix, was killed, the demon Foloren Doubt was defeated and sent back to the demon world to recover, and several of my other allies were badly wounded and are receiving care; they will not be available for further missions for quite some time." He didn't blame Ocali for this, not really; he simply hadn't done as much research as had been necessary, and his allies had paid the price. He would not let it happen again.

* * *

An hour later, Fate stalked out of the building, brushing past a young girl with startlingly red hair who grinned as she looked at him with cold, dead gray eyes. When he was out of sight, the girl turned and headed the other way, stepped into an alley, and vanished.

* * *

Misa sat on the couch in the apartment she shared with her three best friends, watching Madoka with a vague sense of apprehension as the short haired woman answered questions on the telephone with short, concise answers. Something in the set of her jaw, in her too wide eyes and the way she gripped the receiver more tightly than she ever did under normal circumstances held Misa's attention.

"Yes. I un-understand," Madoka said.

Misa blinked. Madoka stuttered? Madoka _never_ stuttered...!

"Alright then. I...do you need me for anything else, or...? Or..." Madoka trailed off for a moment, listening to the person speaking on the other end. "Oh...okay then. I'll ah...I'll be at this number, if you need anything, or...anything. Okay. Yes, thank you for telling me. Bye..." She pressed the button to end the call and dropped the wireless phone on to the tabletop next to its charger without even seeming to notice she had missed. She looked slowly around the room as if she had never seen it before, her eyes wide and unseeing and growing increasingly more watery by the second until they locked on to Misa's face and tears began to run down.

Misa, for her part, was utterly flabbergasted. She had never seen this sort of behavior from Madoka, _ever_. Something was seriously wrong here, and yet she couldn't seem to get her mouth to work properly.

Madoka felt the wetness on her face and reacted with surprise, all but jumping as she started trying to wipe the tears away. "I-I don't know what's...why...M-Misa..."

Hearing her name spoken in that pitiful tone broke her paralysis, and Misa was up off the couch and throwing her arms around the other woman as she broke down. Madoka clamped on to her and Misa gently guided her back to the couch, thanking every deity she had ever heard of that Sakurako had taken Ako out to get something for lunch earlier; she didn't want anyone seeing Madoka like this, even her other friends. She settled her down on the couch and tried to get back up for a box of tissues, but Madoka wouldn't let go of her so she settled back hesitantly. The sleeve and shoulder of her shirt were getting soaked by Madoka's tears, but she didn't have the heart to push her away, so she settled instead for patting her gently on the back.

"Madoka?" Madoka didn't respond for a moment, so she repeated herself. "Madoka? Can I ask what happened?" Madoka stiffened and buried her face further into Misa's shoulder; Misa waited for a moment for a response that didn't come, so she was about to try again when Madoka finallyspoke, still hiding her face.

"R-remember that guy that blew up our cafe?"

It took Misa a moment to figure out what Madoka was talking about. A guy that blew up their cafe...? Her eyes widened when it suddenly hit her: six years ago, back before either of them had thought magic was anything but silly cartoon stuff, when all those people were after their classmate Akira, one of those strangers had decided to go around the city, destroying random buildings with fire magic, one of which had been their favorite cafe at the time. Madoka had later beaten this same man unconscious in retaliation for what they had thought at the time was the murder of their classmates, and he had been taken away by the authorities. To be honest, Misa hadn't thought about that man in a long time; she had just assumed he had been sent off to jail somewhere when he recovered. These thoughts went through her head in the space of a second. "Yeah?"

"He died."

"..." Misa sat there, stunned. He died? What was Madoka talking about? "What-"

"After I beat him up, he went unconscious and never woke up, he's been in a coma ever since. Now he's dead. I-I'm a muh-muh-_murderer_!" Madoka said, her voice hitching as she tried to speak the last word.

Misa's mouth opened and closed like a fish as she tried to think of something, anything to say to comfort her, but nothing came. She had never had anything like that happen before...sure, she had blasted people with magic until they passed out, but they had always woken up, even that one mage who had somehow managed to capture Madoka that time and tried to use her against her. No one had ever... She abruptly realized that nothing she could say would help Madoka in any way. She could say any number of kind things, but that couldn't change the fact that the man Madoka had fought that time had died as a direct result of her actions; nothing could make Madoka forget that fact, either. She knew Madoka wasn't a murderer; Madoka had only been trying to defend her town and her friends. None of them had known that the bodies they found in the lake back then were fakes until much later, after it was all over. Overzealous vigilante, yes, but a murderer? No, never. She hugged Madoka back and sat there with her in silence on the couch, listening while she cried.

* * *

_**Author's Notes**: Well that was a bit of a downer. But anyway, this chapter marks the end of Still Waters 3: Book 1 – Drift. I am simultaneously posting the beginning of Book 2, so please continue reading the ongoing adventures of Negi and all his students and friends as they face new enemies, find new friends, and prepare for the school festival and summer vacation!_


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